Frederick the Great

FREDERICK THI; CKIA

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FEEDERICK THE GREAT.

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FEEDERICK THE GREAT

BY

COL. C. B. BEACKENBURY, E.A.

LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL,

Limited.

1884.

/^o-'<

LONDON :

R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,

BREAD STREET HILL.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAOB

Frederick's ancestry 1

CHAPTER II.

THE HOHENZOLLERNS ARE KINGS. — BIRTH AND TRAINING OF

FREDERICK THE GREAT 13

CHAPTER III.

THE STATE OF EUROPE 39

CHAPTER IV.

FREDERICK ON THE THRONE. — LIBERAL MEASURES. — INCREASE
OF THE ARMY. — ^VISIT TO STRASBURG. — AFFAIR OF HERSTAL.
— DEATH OF THE KAISER. — PRAGMATIC SANCTION BREAKS
DOWN. — DECISION TO OCCUPY SILESIA 47

CHAPTER V.

THE SILESIA N STRUGGLE BEGINS.— BATTLE OF M0LLWIT2 ... 54

253609

vi CONTENTS,

CHAPTER VI.

PACK
SILESIA IS WON. — MARIA THERESA ROUSES HUNGARY. — FRENCH

INTERFERENCE.— BATTLE OF CHOTUSITZ.— PEACE OF BRESLAU 68

CHAPTER VII.
giLEsiA IS PRUSSIANISED.— Frederick's habits.— diplomatic

COMPLICATIONS. — PRUSSIAN ARMY AGAIN STRENGTHENED. —
VOLTAIRE AT BERLIN. — FRENCH INVADE THE NETHERLANDS.
— PRINCE CHARLES CROSSES THE RHINE INTO ALSACE. —
FREDERICK STRIKES IN. — AUSTRIANS INVADE SILESIA ... 85

CHAPTER VIII.

SILESIA PULLED OUT OF THE FIRE. — BATTLES OF HOHENFRIED-

EURG AND SOHR 100

CHAPTER IX.

THE TEN YEARS* PEACE. — REFORMS. — BARBERINA. — ^VOLTAIRE
AND MAUPERTUIS. — LEAGUE AGAINST PRUSSIA. — THE MENT-
ZEL DOCUMENTS. — FREDERICK MARCHES FOR DRESDEN . , . 116

CHAPTER X.

THE SEVEN YEARS* WAR BEGINS. — CAMPAIGN OF 1756. — BATTLE
OF LOBOSITZ. —CAPITULATION OF PIRNA. — SAXON ARMY
ABSORBED 125

CHAPTER XI.

CAMPAIGN OF 1757. — BATTLE AND SIEGE OF PRAGUE 132

CHAPTER XII.

CAMPAIGN OF 1757 {continued).— BATTLE OF KOLIN. — SIEGE OF

PRAGUE RAISED 142

CONTENTS, vU

CHAPTER XIII.

PAaa
CAMPAIGN OP 1757 (continued). — ill fortune pursues Frede-
rick. — THE disaster OP THE PRINCE OF PRUSSIA AT ZITTAU.
— THE KING MARCHES AGAINST THE DAUPHINESS ARMY,
WHICH AVOIDS HIM. — RETREAT OP SEVERN. — CORRESPOND-
ENCE WITH WILHELMINA. — RAID ON BERLIN. — RUSSIANS GO
HOME 152

CHAPTER Xiy.

CAMPAIGN OP 1757 [continued). — battle of rossbach. — march

TO SILESIA. — BATTLE OF LEUTHEN 166

CHAPTER Xy,

CAMPAIGN OP 1758.— SIEGE OF OLMUTZ.— CAPTURE OF THE
CONVOY.— FREDERICK'S MARCH TO KONIGGRATZ — HE GOES
AGAINST FERMOR. — BATTLE OF ZORNDORF. — DAUN ENTERS

SAXONY.— Frederick's return to Dresden. — marches

TO relieve NEISSE. — DAUN INTERCEPTS HIM. — BATTLE OP
HOCHKIRCH 182

CHAPTER XVI.

CAMPAIGN OF 1759.— BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF.— PALL OF DRES-
DEN. — PRINCE henry's GREAT MARCH. — CAPTURE OF FINCK
AT MAXEN ♦, 207

. CHAPTER XYII.

CAMPAIGN OF 1760. — FREDERICK'S DOUBLE PLAN. — SIEGE OP
DRESDEN. — MARCH TO SILESIA. — MANOEUVRES AGAINST
THREE ARMIES. — BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ. — RAID ON BERLIN. —
FREDERICK MARCHES FOR SAXONY. — BATTLE OF TORGAU . . 217

viu CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVIIl.

{ PACE

CAMPAIGN OF 1761. — GROWING EXHAUSTION OF THE ARMIES. —

CAMP OF BUNZELWITZ.— LOUDON CAPTURES SCHWEIDNITZ. —
DEATH OF THE CZARINA. — PEACE WITH RUSSIA. — CAMPAIGN
OF 1762. — DAUN FORTIFIES HIMSELF TO COVER SCHWEIDNITZ.
— FREDERICK TURNS HIM OUT.— SCHWEIDNITZ RECAPTURED.
— PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG. — RESTORATION OF RUINED
PRUSSIA. — PARTITION OF POLAND. — AMBITION OF KAISER
JOSEPH LEADS TO QUASI-CAMPAIGN OF 1778-9 240

CHAPTER XIX.

DEATH OF MARIA THERESA IN 1780. — FREDERICK'S SHARP

CRITICISM OF HIS GENERALS AT AUTUMN MAN(EUVRES.

INSPECTION OF SILESIAN ARMY. — CATCHES A CHILL. — LAST
ILLNESS.— DEATH IN 1786.— HIS CHARACTER AS A KING, A
SOLDIER, A MAN 256

FEEDEEICK THE GEEAT.

CHAPTER I.

A.D. 928—1686.

The story of a warrior king like Frederick the Great
cannot be rightly understood without taking into con-
sideration the times in which he lived and the events
which, during a series of ages, combined to place him in
the position which he occupied at the beginning of his
reign. And the rise of the Hohenzollern family is
peculiarly interesting. Springing from obscurity more
than four centuries and a half ago, it has had vitality
enough to retain its existence among storms which have
overthrown many a royal house, and, fixing its roots
deeper and firmer in the soil of central Europe, to gain
at last the highest possible European distinction — the
Imperial Crown of Germany. Judged by the theoretical
morality of the nineteenth century, the diplomatic subtle-
ties and the wars of the Hohenzollerns, especially the
seizure of Silesia by Frederick the Great, may appear
wanting in honesty and humanity 7j but if we take into

2 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

928.

account the conditions under which society existed before
nations asserted the right to have the chief voice in their
own government, it will appear that no family more than
another had the monopoly of virtue or vice, and that if
in the stream of history the Hohenzollerns have gradually
destroyed their early companions on the voyage, it is
because they were iron pots among earthen pipkins.

The tendency of modern historians is to reject the old
hero-worship of kings and to throw the light of their
researches upon the growth of nations rather than upon
the genius of rulers, generals, and ministers. No doubt
there is need of a change from the old method of writing
history, by which the masters were glorified at the expense
of the people. But the new process may be carried too
far. It is possible that, in a not far distant future, the
progress of trade and manufactures will be pushed by
co-operative societies of workmen ; but the historians of
that time will be unjust if they forget the services ren-
dered in the past by capitalists and inventors. Politically,
the world is travelling in the direction of constitutional
government or even republicanism, which are both forms
of co-operation ; yet the power now known as the Empire
of Germany was founded and built up by other means,
prominent among which have been the character and
actions of various members of the House of Hohenzollern.
The Electors of Brandenburg raised themselves and their
family by their own exert ious at a time when Princes
regarded their countries much as landed proprietors now
do their estates. Territories with their whole populations
were bought and sold without consulting other interests
than those of the proprietors, and a Kaiser was not
ashamed to wring a post obit for an important district out
of the necessities of a young hereditary Prince, whose

FREDERICK'S ANCESTRY. 3

928.

father was at the same time bargaining away the rights
of his son. The people were passed over like cattle to
the new possessors, and asked for even less than the
protection given to the beasts on a farm. Thus, while it
is true that rulers and ministers were the products of
their time, we may say with equal justice that the people
were often mere tools in the hands of their sovereign ;
who used their very aspirations towards heaven as means
of strengthening his dynasty on earth and adding to his
worldly possessions. )The bargainings for treaties between
royal and princely houses resembled the sharp practice of
a horse fair, and there was even more certainty that the
agreements would be disavowed if either party saw its
advantage in repudiating the transaction^ Such being
the usual conditions, those countries may be esteemed
fortunate whose proprietors were clever in seizing the
advantage when it offered, and whose interests were not
disassociated from those of their masters.

In the year 928 Brannibor, now Brandenburg, first
emerged from the chaos of northern heathendom and
took its place in history. Henry the Fowler marched
across the frozen bogs, captured Brannibor, and set up
there a Margrave, or Warden of the Marches, to keep
order among the barbarous Wends. His business was,
like that of English and Bussian pro-consuls in Asia, to
guard the borders of Christendom and save it from inva-
sion. Under such circumstances there can be but one
result. The weaker and less civilised nations bring about
quarrels which end in their subjection. The Margraves,
however, had many vicissitudes, and the final victory was
not achieved till two centuries later, when Albert tho
Bear crushed and half exterminated the Wends with one
hand, and thrust upon them, with the other, Christianity

B 2

4 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1170-1415.

and 'colonists from Holland. In consideration of his
talents and various achievements Albert became a Kur-
furst (Choosing Prince) or Elector of the Empire, and
henceforth the Margraves of Brandenburg had the right to
one voice in the election of Kaisers. This small seed of
territory and power has gradually grown into the kingdom
of Prussia, the headship of the German Empire.

About the time of Albert's death in 1170, or a little
earlier, began the rise of the Hohenzollern family, which
had, however, not yet any connection with Brandenburg.
Conrad, a cadet of the House, left his home in Suabia to
seek his fortune with the Emperor Barbarossa, and suc-
ceeded so well that he shortly became Burgrave of
Nuremburg. His descendants grew in power by the
same qualities which they have displayed to the present
day — the qualities mainly of men of business — and were
ever ready to seize and make the most of the opportunities
which came under their hands. They acquired larger
territories, and became in time Margraves of Culmbach,
which included Anspach and Baireuth. Though not
Electors of the Empire, their power was such as to give
them much influence over the choice of Kaisers, and they
stood well for higher honours. Meanwhile Brandenburg
had, after a series of troubles, fallen into the hands of
the Kaisers, who thus became voters for their own elec-
tion. In 1415 Sigismund, after having pawned Branden-
burg for small sums more than once, sold it with the
power which it conferred to Frederick of Hohenzollern
for 400,000 golden gulden, and henceforth the talents
which had made the family were devoted to the aggran-
disement of the northern Principality.

It was time that a strong hand should take the reins,
for Brandenburg had fallen into a state of perilous anarchy.

FREDERICK'S ANCESTRY, 5

1415.

The towns received Frederick with joy, but the robber
barons, who lived by highway plunder or black-mail, had
no stomach for regular government. Persuasion and hos-
pitality were tried with no effect, but the louder voice of
cannon — novelties to the barons — especially the balls from
a heavy twenty-four pounder called Faule Crete, or Lazy
Peg, brought the walls of the castles to ruin and the barons
to a better sense of their duties. Brandenburg was saved
and strengthened, and so prominent were the services of
Frederick to Germany that he was offered the Kaisership
in his old age. He declined that crown of thorns, and it
has been the aim of his family ever since rather to add to
the power of their own house and country than to grasp
at imperial greatness. Even in our days it was not by
his own will that William of Prussia became Emperor of
Germany.

From the first acquisition of the Electorate to the
time of the Great Elector in 1640, near the end of the
Thirty Years' War, the lives of the Hohenzollern house
may be passed over in silence, except with regard to
certain events which bear upon the history of Frederick
the Great and his father. The family continued to hold
Culmbach and Brandenburg. The practice was for the
head of the house to be Elector of Brandenburg, while
Culmbach, or sometimes Baireuth and Anspach separated,
were governed by younger branches. This arrangement,
at first informal, was made definite by the '' Gera
Bond " in 1598. The bond provided that the younger
branch should have Culmbach, which might be split into
Baireuth and Anspach on occasion, but if either branch
failed the other would take both the Electorship and
Margraviate until they should be divided again for the
benefit of the younger scions. On the whole the various

6 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1511-1568.

members of the family were hard-headed, rather grasping
men, with a keen eye for the main chance, but withal
good rulers considering the times in which they lived.

Another important point is the acquisition of Prussia.
One of the Culmbach line, named Albert, was chosen
Grand Master of the Teutonic Order of Knighthood, then
in a state of decay, in 1511. The Teutonic knights had
taken possession of all East and "West Prussia, and con-
verted — that is, nearly exterminated — the heathen owners
of the land. Like the Templars, they acquired much
property in various directions, became rich, luxurious,
and degenerate. The King of Poland forced them to
yield West Prussia and to do homage for East Prussia.
Albert was elected on the understanding, confirmed by an
oath, that he would refuse this homage. He endeavoured
to keep his word, but found that neither the empire nor
the knights would give him any help at all. After seven
years, Albert at last got 8,000 troops together to fight
Poland, but was worsted at once, and made truce for four
years, during which he besieged the Reich and the Ritters
with requests for help, if indeed they cared for the point
they had pressed upon him. His prayers were in vain,
and with practical sense he consulted Luther, put down
the order, and made himself Duke of Prussia, for which
he consented to do homage to the King of Poland, his
mother's brother. Ripe fruit will fall into the mouth of
the capable, whether they shake the tree or not. Thus
Prussia came under the government of the Hohenzollerns,
and an example of Protestantism was set to' the family.
The incapable knights disappeared, to be heard of no more,
and in 1568 the dukedom was made hereditary by consent
of the Reich, the Brandenburg Hohenzollerns to take it
if the Culmbach line failed, which it eventually did. Thus

FREDERICK'S ANCESTRY. 7

Prussia was gathered into the possessions of the Northern
Hohenzollerns, who became Dukes of Prussia as well as
Electors of Brandenburg.

The same Elector Joachim II. who obtained the heritor-
ship of the Dukedom of Prussia made another arrange-
ment, which, aiming at possible future advantages, was
in its issue the occasion of the first military adventures of
Frederick the Great. This was the famous ''Erbverbrii-
• derung" — Heritage Brotherhood — a covenant with the
Duke of Liegnitz, by which it was agreed that if either the
Brandenburg or Liegnitz lines failed, the other line should
take possession, and combine the two countries, or we may
say the two properties. The duchy which might thus fall
to the Hohenzollerns included Liegnitz, Brieg, and Wohlau,
parts of that Silesia which became so memorable in history.
The feofs of Brandenburg to be given up did not include
the whole of it, and need not be mentioned, because, as
usual, the Hohenzollerns survived the other contracting
line. The compact was sealed by a double marriage, and
bound fast by all the red-tape which lawyers could wind
round it. It is true that Ferdinand, who was then King
of Bohemia and afterwards Emperor of Germany, objected
to the arrangement and forced Liegnitz to give up his
portion of the bond. But what a Hohenzollern grasps he
keeps if he can, and neither then nor ever afterwards
could kings or emperors extract that piece of parchment
out of the strong box of combined Brandenburg and
Prussia. Probably the question, if argued to-day, might
make a Chancery suit enduring for many years. Instead
of a suit, the Silesian succession became a burning question,
and for arguments Frederick the Great substituted the
sword. There was another Silesian claim on the part of
the Hohenzollerns, with which, however, we need not

8 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

1537-1630.

now concern ourselves. The Erbverbriiderung, and its
rejection by the Kaiser when it should have been fulfilled,
was a pretty quarrel enough.

One more important circumstance remains to be noticed,
as upon it turned much of the action of the Hohenzollerns
when they came to be kings. Albert Frederick, the first
hereditary duke by consent, married Maria Eleanora,
daughter of Duke William of Cleve, who was the brother
of Anne of Cleves, known in history as the rejected of-
Harry VIII. of England. Duke William settled Cleve,
which included Julich and Berg, on Maria and her de-
scendants, male or female, in case he should die without
male issue. Only if Maria died childless was Cleve to
pass to her sisters. Duke William left no heir, while
Maria had daughters, one of whom married an Elector of
Brandenburg. The settlement had been confirmed by the
Kaiser and seemed all in order, but at Maria's death in
1608, the succession was claimed by the Count Palatine
of Neuberg, who had married a younger sister of Maria
Eleanora. Forthwith other claimants started up, and it
was not till long afterwards that the matter was settled
by a division between Neuberg and Brandenburg, with
the proviso that if either line failed in male issue the
other was to take the whole. The Hohenzollerns were
rich in children, but the line of the Neubergs was visibly
failing in the boyhood of Frederick the Great — we shall
presently see with what result to him and to the whole
of Europe.

One Hohenzollern, and one only, during the whole of
the electoral period deserves nothing but blame at
the hands of historians : and he lived precisely at the
time when a man of good parts might have done great
things. This was George William, who existed, we cannot

FREDERICK'S ANCESTRY. 9

1630.

say flourished, in the time of the Thirty Years' War. His
sole endeavour appears to have been to keep himself out
of danger ; and the result was, as happens on continents
in such cases, that his country became, in great part, the
battlefield of Europe. Considering his opportunities, he
might have placed himself at the head of the Protestants
and changed the whole character of the war. But instead
of this, he tried to shake hands with the Kaiser on one
side and the League of Protestant chiefs on the other.
Even if he may be forgiven for hesitating at first, there
came a time when his duty and his interests were so clearly
at one that none but a weak ruler could possibly have
doubted. The greatest captain of the age) Gustavus
Adolphus, landed in the island of Usedom in 1630, seized
Pomeraniajand cleared it of the Kaiser's army, which had
been occupying it in defiance of all George William's
claims. The degenerate Hohenzollern was not to be moved ;
and when, at last, he was absolutely driven by circum-
stances to join the side of Gustavus, he sent a poor 3,000
men into Bohemia, who did no single worthy action and
soon vanished. The result to himself of this weakness was
a miserable and shame-faced life, while his country was
almost turned into a desert by the armies which fought on
its soil. In the latter part of the war the contending
forces strove to starve each other by wasting the districts
where they fought. The misery was greater than can be
conceived. There was not a peasant who could count his
life safe from day to day ; and in some places famine
reached such terrible dimensions that men hungered for
human flesh — fathers and mothers ate their own children.
Such was the result of [George William's policy of peace at
any pricejjand besides bringing about this misery among
the people,^e lost Pomerania^hich had fallen in to him,

10 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1610-1685.

but was occupied by the Swedes ; and lost the duchy of
Jiigerndorf in Silesia^^hat province being seized by the
Kaiser and his generals unrighteously, and, as it turned
out afterwards, unfortunately for Austria.

It is impossible to say how low the HohenzoUerns in
1640 might have fallen had not George William been suc-
ceeded by his son Frederick William, the Great Elector some
eight years before the close of the Thirty Years' War. He
was only twenty years old at the time of his succession, but
had watched the disgrace of his country with eager mind
longing to retrieve it. As a political factor in Europe,
Brandenburg had disappeared. Its actual ruler had been
the minister Schwarzenberg, the paid agent of the Kaiser*
a Catholic directing Protestant actions in the midst of a
religious war. The Great Elector governed for forty-eight
years, during which he restored his country, made it richer
than it had ever been, got rid of Schwarzenberg from the
Cabinet, and the Swedes from a large part of Pomerania,
rearranged the whole system of taxation, and brought much
waste land into a fertile condition. At the same time he
began to form a standing army. His subjects, like the
Prussians before 1866, objected to the military measures
of their ruler, but were pacified and pleased by the honour
gained in many fights, all undertaken in the cause of Pro-
testantism and German freedom. Philosophers may teach
and mercantile pursuits may hamper the sword arm of a
nation, but there has never yet been found in the history of
the world a living people insensible to military glory,
r The Great Elector, like smaller men, grew old and weary
of struggles. For all his good work he had neither got
Pomerania from the Swedes nor Silesia from the Kaisef/1
who would listen to no solicitations on this head. Bu6"^in
1685, when the Great Elector was sixty-five years old, the

FilEDEEICK'S ANCESTRY. 11

16S3.

Kaiser had need of his help against the Turks, and made a
proposal that the Silesian claims should be settled by giving
him the **' Circle of Schwiebus " — a tract of country lying
close to the Elector's dominions north-west of Silesia.
While negotiations were in progress, Baron Freytag, the
Austrian Ambassador at Berlin, secretly entered upon
another bargain. The young Prince Frederick, son and
heir of the Elector, had quarrelled with his stepmother and
run away from Court, believing himself in danger of poison
His father permitted him to live apart, but tightened the
strings of the purse, and gave him hardly enough to exist
upon. The wily Freytag crept into the presence of the young
man, and told him that all his wants should be supplied if he
would give a post obit for Schwiebus, which his father was
in the act of acquiring. Thus, with one hand the Kaiser,
holding Silesia by force, traded with the father to exchange
his rights over it for a paltry province, and with the other
lent money to the son at usurer's interest, no less than the
resignation of his future claims on Schwiebus. Both the
old and the young man fell into the snare, and the Austrian
rights to Silesia became based upon a transaction which
was shameful to the Austrian Court and galling to the
pride of the coming HohenzoUerns. The double transaction
was closed in 1686, and two years afterwards the Elector
died. When Frederick succeeded him, he at first refused to
give up Schwiebus, and even held possession of it for seven
years. He declared that he had been swindled while an
ignorant youth, and asserted that when he signed the post
obit he had no power to bind Brandenburg. Only on the
threat of actual force did he consent to yield Schwiebus to
the Emperor, against the advice of his counsellors. His
answer to them is recorded in history. He must keep his

12 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1686.

own word, but, having been thus abused, he retained his
claim to Silesia, and left it for his posterity to prosecute
when the opportunity should come. Perhaps if the Kaiser
had known what manner of man was to prosecute this
claim hereafter, he might have hesitated to leave a wound
to the Hohenzollern spirit so imperfectly closed.

CHAPTER II.

THE HOHENZOLLERNS ARE KINGS. BIRTH AND TRAINING OF

FREDERICK THE GREAT.

A.D. 1712—1740.

1712.

Though the great elector did not succeed in obtaining
the territory he sought, he left his people so enriched, and
his standing army so strong, that no potentate in Europe
could make war without questioning himself what would be
said and done at Berlin. His son Frederick, though of
weaker mould, was strong in the possession of the power
built up by his father. Once more the Kaiser wanted help
for his war of the Spanish Succession, and got it from
Frederick, but only after paying well for it. Frederick
demanded and obtained, not without suspicion of bribery
at the time, the title of King of Prussia. The Hohen-
zollerns had sped well in their climb upwards. From a
wandering fortune-hunter to Burgraves of Nuremburg,
Electors of Brandenburg, Dukes of Prussia, and now at
last Kings — of Prussia, because that state did not form part
of the German Reich. The new king was a lover of
magnificence and ceremonials, for which historians have
blamed him. But there were no achievements ready to his

14 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

iri2-17]3.

hand beyond good administration, which he faithfully gave ;
and the people seem to have been content with his coro-
nations and his progresses. His queen, Sophia Charlotte,
was so little elated by the new dignity, that in the midst of
the ceremony of coronation she was discovered conveying
to her nose a sly pinch of snuff in fine irony of the pro-
ceedings. She has been called the Republican Queen, and
a touch of her nature is to be seen afterwards in her
grandson, Frederick the Great. Her discourses with
Leibnitz on *' The Infinitely Little," of which she writes,
" Mon Dieu, as if I did not know enough of that ! " seem"
to foreshadow the philosophic speculations of the great
king, and his passion for talk with Voltaire and the
like, while her contempt for the forms of courts passed
downwards for at least two generations.

\ The accession of the next king, Frederick William,
marks a turning-point in the history of Prussia, j Dis-
gusted with the pomp and display of his father, he set
himself at once to cut down expenditure in every depart-
ment except in that of the army. In his childhood he had
shown clear proofs of the direction given to his mind by his
mother's blood and influence. Once there was brought to
him a grand embroidered dressing-gown, heavy with gold,
but no sooner had the boy examined it than he made up
his mind to have none of such useless and uncomfortable
finery, and without more ado put it in the fire. When his
father lay dying in 1713, the poor mortal frame heaving
its last sighs amid a forest of gold sticks and other para-
phernalia of a court, and in an air thick with powder from
periwigs, the young man made up his mind. Death came,
and the natural grief of Frederick William was driven
in by the chilling ceremonies and antic homage of the

FREDERICK WILLIAM, 15

171S.

courtiers. He dashed the tears from his eyes, went straight
to his room, and sent in less than half an hour for the
Ober-Hofmarschall. To him he signified his will that
though things might go on as they were till his father's
funeral, when he would allow himself to be bedizened
for the last time in foolish trappings, the waste and the
absurdity must cease from that moment, and the whole
apparatus disappear, to be succeeded by the simplicity of an
English country gentleman. Right through the list of all
expenditure did Frederick William go in like manner,
discharging and reducing until his court was the cheapest
in Europe— perhaps more suitable for a petty noble than a
great king. Instead of an army of gold sticks, silver
sticks, and the rest, he would only have eight lackeys at
six shillings a week, and three pages. For a thousand
saddle-horses, many of them imaginary quadrupeds, the
money for whose food went into idle men's pockets,
Frederick William would have only thirty, which he kept
in good condition with right hard work. His pension-list
was reduced from 276,000 thalers to 55,000. These are
but samples of the work done throughout the whole of his
dominions. The dreams of socialists were realised by this
heavy-handed king, to whom it seemed an abominable
offence that any man should eat bread without working
hard for it. His reforms were real and valuable, but, as
he grew older, his tendency towards parsimony and the
personal management of his people grew into a mania,
which brought at last much unhappiness to himself and
his family. __

But with all his economy in court and country, Frederick
William never spared the money required for his army,
which he increased from 38,000 at his father's death to

16 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

1713.
84,000 in his own time. Nor were these 84,000 men
mere show soldiers ; they were trained with a constant
supervision and severity of discipline which, though pro-
bably never since equalled, have left their traces on the
Prussian army of to-day. No other country in Europe has
ever succeeded in arriving at the reality of such discipline,
though with ape-like fidelity some of them have imitated
the Prussian manias, forgetting that the laws of disci-
pline must, like any other laws, be adapted to the
circumstances of time and place ; and that one race of
men will bear with equanimity punishments which would
drive freer people to distraction and perhaps mutiny.
Blows of the stick administered on the spot are no doubt,
like the birch-rod in schools, short, sharp, and effective
punishments for those who will endure them without losing
soldierly pride and self-esteem. No one objected to them
in the north and east of Europe at that time. Nor, in
spite of regulations and assertions to the contrary, have
they entirely disappeared to this day. To the French and
English armies such personal chastisement has long been
mere torture.

^Frederick William's love of the stick was not confined
to the treatment of soldiers alone. He used to carry a
rattan with him in his walks, and woe to the unhappy
wight who seemed to be doing evil or even idling. Nay,
in his palace the stick was active, and no one dare resist
him. Servants, pages, and even lady visitors were chastised
in this remarkable manner. In fact, Frederick William
set himself deliberately to thrash his kingdom, hjs house-
hold, and his .family into obedience and good order/ Now
if we remember how strong used to be the tendency of
schoolmasters only a few years ago to flog their boys

i.

THE GIANT GUARDS. 17

'1718.

instead of leading them, and if we consider for a moment
that the King of Prussia had constituted himself a school-
master on a large scale, with no public opinion to criticise
or control him, the apparent madness of his conduct as he
grew older will but appear to be the natural development
of the spirit of discipline in a direction where it must
ever go if once acknowledged as of more importance than
individual liberty properly trained and directed.

In like manner his determination to increase and perfect
he army became a mania with him. /' He did what he
undertook, and did it well. The infantry of the young
Prussian monarchy became the first in Europe, and, by its
excellence, carried Frederick the Great through his first
campaign, the success of which was certainly not due to
any military genius on his part. Frederick William's
mania for big, well set-up soldiers, led him to commit
certain follies, which, however, had at the bottom of them
a root of common sense. He had agents throughout the
whole of Eurc^e cajoling or kidnapping the tallest men that
could be found to swell the ranks of his regiment of giant
guards at Potsdam. All Europe rang with the scandalous
transactions of these agents. Priests were dragged from the
altar, and monks from the convent. One fine man, the
Abbe Bastiani, was kidnapped in the very act of celebrating
mass in an Italian church. The monk, who is known as
the Great Joseph, was given the sum of 5,000 florins for
his own enlistment, besides a large sum to the monastery.
So far as is known, Ireland had the credit of producing
the recruit who extracted the greatest amount of money
from Frederick William's pocket. The man himself, James
Kirkland, received £1,000, which represented much more
value than it would at present, and the rest of the expenses
of securing him and bringing him over to Berlin amounted

c

18 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1713.

to £200 IO5. Od. In the bill occur some curious items.

For instance : —

£ s. d.

For the sending of two spies 18 18

To some of his acquaintance in London who helped to per-
suade him 18 18

To two soldiers of the guard (query English or Irish) who

assisted 15 15

To some persons for secrecy ... 12 12

To a man who accompanied and watched him constantly ... 3 3

On one occasion the Austrian ambassador, Herr von
Bentenrieder, a tall and handsome diplomatist, was tra-
velling as an envoy to or from the Congress of Cambray.
Near Halberstadt his carriage broke down, and he walked
on while it was mending. Arrived at a small guard house
he found a Prussian officer, who forthwith seized him as a
promising recruit for the Potsdam giants. Rich merchants
and burgomasters were actually carried off, and could
hardly, if ever, get their freedom again. A thousand
curious stories are told of this spider king whose web
extended over the whole of Europe to catch every hu nan
fly who happened to be of greater stature than his fellows.
Nay, more, Frederick William not only caught his peculiar
pets, but bred from them also. He used to catch gigantic
girls when he could, and marry them to his tall grenadiers.
Take this story as a sample of his transactions in matri-
monial management. Going one day from Potsdam to
Berlin, he saw coming towards him in the opposite direction
a magnificent girl, young, handsome, and of good figure,
superb in number of inches. He was at once struck with
admiration for her; stopped to talk, and found that she
was unmarried, and was on her way from Berlin to her
Saxon home. " Then," said Frederick William, " you will
be passing the gate of Potsdam, and will no doubt give

BIRTH OF FREDERICK. 19

24th Jan. 1712.

this note to the commandant, receiving a dollar for your
trouble." But women, even when tall, are not so easily
outwitted as Kirklands, Josephs, and the like. The girl
knew the king by sight and reputation, and knowing that
to refuse the note would probably bring her a shower of
blows from the rattan, accepted the commission. Arrived
near the gate of Potsdam, she found there a little wizened
old hag, to whom she intrusted the delivery of the letter,
honestly handing over the dollar with it. Then forthwith
she sped away towards home. The commandant opened
the note, and found himself ordered to marry the bearer
to a certain gigantic Irish grenadier named Macdoll
(?McDowall). He rubbed his eyes, but there could be
no doubt about the clearness of the command. The
grenadier was sent for, and then began a curious scene.
The man was in absolute despair. Such a mate for one
of his thews and sinews seemed a horrible mockery. The
proposed wife, on the contrary, was quite ready to submit
herself to the orders of the king. There was no escape ;
to refuse further would be flat mutiny, and the soldier was
actually obliged to obey. The mistake was not discovered
till the next morning, when Frederick, finding himself
thwarted in his designs for the development of giants in
Germany, consented to the divorce of the ill-matched
couple.

To this strange historical figure of good intention but
vastly exaggerated performance, and to his wife, Sophie
Dorothee of Hanover, waswjorn on the 24th of January,
1712,"" a boy, who was christened Karl Frederick, and is
know:^ in history as Friedrich II. of Prussia, or, more
commonly, Frederick the Great. The father was still
Crown Prince, and twenty-four years old, a rugged, hard-
tempered soldier, who had seen fierce fighting under

c 2

20 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1712-1717.

Marlborough and Eugene during the Netherlands episode
of the War of Succession. The child was the fourth-born.
Two princes had preceded him, but died in infancy ; the
first it is said, having fallen a victim to ceremony in the
shape of a crown which compressed his soft skull ; the
second frightened to death by the firing of the cannon which
announced his arrival in a world of display. Between
these two baby princes came the princess, Frederika Sophie
Wilhelmina, Frederick's dear companion in childhood and
friend in after life. After Frederick came ten other
children, two of whom died in infancy. The survivors of
the family to manhood and womanhood were —

Frederika Sophie Wilhelmina, born 3rd July, 1709.
Frederick the Great, „ 24th January, 1712.

Frederika Louisa, ,, 28th .September, 1714.

PhiUipina Charlotte, „ 13th March, 1716.

Sophie Dorothee Maria, ,, 25th January, 1719.

Louisa Ulrique, „ 24th July, 1720.

August Wilhelm, „ 9th August, 1722.

Aunna Amelia, „ 9th November, 1723.

Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig „ 18th January, 1726.
August Ferdinand, „ 23rd May, 1730.

Altogether a family of ten surviving out of fourteen born.

The young Frederick was a boy of great vivacity, but
inclined to be delicate, and it is not easy to understand how
he escaped with life under the treatment of his hard father,
whose more than Spartan discipline — beer soup for food,
and scanty allowance of sleep — would have killed any young
thing which had not a more than ordinary amount of
vitality. Perhaps one element in his training saved him —
the strictest regularity in meals, studies, and exercise. He
was first under charge of a French Protestant governess,
Madame de Poucoulles, for whom he retained ever after-
wards a lively affection. In his seventh year he was placed

EDUCATION. 21

1712-1717.

in the hands of tutors, men of real experience of life, and
his father laid down for his benefit a system of instruction
which was adhered to with more or less accuracy. First of
all, he was to be impressed with a proper love and fear of
God, no false religions or heresies being so much as named
in his hearing. To this day, the basis of all Prussian
schooling is "God and the king." Reference was to be
made to Papistry alone, but only to point out to him its
baselessness and absurdity ( Ungrund und Ahsurditat). Latin
was strictly forbidden, no time for antique learning in the
scheme of the Bear of Berlin. Economy to be studied " to
the very bottom," arithmetic, mathematics, artillery,
modern history thoroughly ; but little ancient ; the jus
naturale and jus gentium, the latter a new study in those
days, to be completely known. With increase of years he
was to become versed in fortification and all the details of
the military art, and have "stamped into him" a true
love for soldiership, so that he might be fully persuaded
that " as there is nothing in the world which can bring a
prince renown and honour like the sword, so he would be
a despised creature before all men if he did not love it and
seek his sole glory therein." This is the main thought of
the father, who considered himself cheated out of Silesia,
and whose father had solemnly declared that he left to his
successors the task of prosecuting the claim. A little
later, when the young prince was in his tenth year, the
king drew up a long memorandum, apportioning rigorously
the tasks and duties for every hour of the week. Carlyle
gives us from Preuss the general features of the scheme,
which shall be quoted here, as it serves better than much
description to show what Frederick's mental training was.

Sunday. — " On Sunday he is to rise at 7 ; and as soon as
he has got his slippers on, shall kneel down at his bedside, and

22 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1712-1717.
pray to God, so as all in the room may hear it " (that there be no
deception or short measure palmed upon us) " in these words :
' Lord God, blessed Father, I thank Thee from my heart that
Thou hast so graciously preserved me through this night. Fit
me for what Thy holy will is ; and grant that I do nothing this
day, nor all the days of my life, which can divide me from Thee.
For the Lord Jesus my Redeemer's sake. Amen.' After which
the Lord's Prayer, Then rapidly and vigorously (geschwinde und
hurtig) wash himself clean, dress, and powder and comb himself ;
we forget to say that while they are combing and queuing him,
he breakfasts, with brevity, on tea. Prayer, with washing, break-
fast and the rest, to be done pointedly within fifteen minutes —
that is, at a quarter-past 7.

"This finished, all his Domestics and Duhan shall come in,
and do family worship {das grosse Gebet zu halten). Prayer on
their knees, Duhan withal to read a chapter of the Bible, and
sing some proper Psalm or Hymn " (as practised in well-regulated
families), " It will then be a quarter to 8. All the Domestics
then withdraw again ; and Duhan now reads with my Son the
Gospel of the Sunday ; expounds it a little, adducing the main
points of Christianity ; — questioning from Noltenius's Catechism "
(which Fritz knows by heart) : — " it will then be 9 o'clock.

" At 9 he brings my Son down to me ; who goes to Church,
and dines along witli me " (dinner at the stroke of noon) : " the
rest of the day is then his own " (Fritz's and Duhan's). '• At
half-past 9 in the evening, he shall come and bid me good-night.
Shall then directly go to his room ; very rapidly (sehr geschwind)
get off his clothes, wash his hands " (get into some tiny dressing-
gown or cassaquin, no doubt) ; " and as soon as that is done,
Duhan makes a prayer on his knees, and sings a hymn ; all the
Servants being again there. Instantly after which, my Son shall
get into bed ; shall be in bed at half-past 10 " ; — and fall asleep
how soon, your Majesty ! This is very strict work.

Monday. — " On Monday as on all weekdays, he is to be called
at 6 ; and so soon as called he is to rise ; you are to stand to him
(anhalten) that he do not loiter or turn in bed, but briskly and at
once get up ; and say his prayers, the same as on Sunday morning.
This done, he shall as rapidly as possible get on his shoes and
spatterdashes ; also wash his face and hands, but not with soap.

SCHEME OF CHILD'S TRAINING. 23

1712-1717.

Farther sliall put on Ms cassaquin" (short dressing-gown), "have
his hair combed out and queued, but not powdered. While getting
combed and queued, he shall at the same time take breakfast of
tea, so that both jobs go on at once, and all this shall be ended
before half-past 6." Then enter Duhan and the Domestics, with
worship, Bible, Hymn, all as on Sunday ; this is done by 7,
and the Servants go again.

" From 7 till 9 Duhan takes him on History ; at 9 comes
Noltenius " (a sublime clerical gentleman from Berlin) " with the
Christian Religion, till a quarter to 11. Then Fritz rapidly
{geschwind) washes his face with water, hands with soap and
water ; clean shirt ; powders, and puts on his coat ; — about 11
comes to the King. Stays with the King till 2," — perhaps
promenading a little ; dining always at noon ; after which
Majesty is apt to be slumbrous, and light amusements are
over.

" Directly at 2, he goes back to his room. Duhan is there
ready ; takes him upon the maps and geography, from 2 to 3,
giving account " (gradually !) " of all the European Kingdoms ;
their strength and weakness ; size, riches and poverty of their
towns. From 3 to 4, Duhan treats of morality {soil die Moral
tradiren). From 4 to 5, Puhan shall write German letters with
him, and see that he gets a good 'stylum' " (which he never in the
least did). " About 5, Fritz shall wash his hands, and go to the
King ; — ride out ; divert himself in the air and not in his room ;
and do what he likes, if it is not against God."

There then is a Sunday, and there is one weekday ; which
latter may serve for all the other five ; though they are strictly
specified in the royal monograph, and every hour of them marked
out. How, and at what points of time, besides this of History, of
Morality, and Writing in German, of Maps and Geography and
the strength and weakness of Kingdoms, you are to take up
Arithmetic more than once ; Writing of French Letters, so as to
acquire a good stylum : in what nook you may intercalate " a
little getting by heart of something, in order to strengthen the
memory " ; how instead of Noltenius, Panzendorf (another sublime
reverend gentleman from Berlin, who comes out express) gives
the clerical drill on Tuesday morning ; with which two onslaughts,
of an hour-and-half each, the clerical gentlemen seem to withdraw

24 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1712-1717.

for the week, and we hear no more of them till Monday and
Tuesday come round again.

On Wednesday we are happy to observe a liberal slice of
holiday come in. At half-past 9, having done his History, and
" got something by heart to strengthen the memory " (very little,
it is to be feared), " Fritz shall rapidly dress himself and come to
the King. And the rest of the day belongs to little Fritz {gehort
vor FritzcJien)." On Saturday, too, there is some fair chance of
half-holiday.

" Saturday forenoon till half-past 10 come History, Writing,
and Ciphering ; especially repetition of what was done through
the week, and in morality as well" (adds the rapid Majesty), "to
see whether he has profited. And General Graf von Finkenstein,
with Colonel von Kalkstein, shall be present during this. If
Fritz has profited, the afternoon shall be his own. If he has not
profited, he shall, from 2 to 6, repeat and learn rightly what he
has forgotten on the past days." And so the labouring week
winds itself up. Here, however, is one general rule which cannot
be too much impressed upon you, with which we conclude :

" In undressing and dressing, you must accustom him to get
out of, and into, his clothes as fast as is humanly possible {hurtig
so viel als menschenmoglich ist). You will also look that he learn
to put on and put off his clothes himself, without help from
others ; and that he be clean and neat, and not so dirty {nicht so
schmutzig). Not so dirty, that is my last word, and here is my
sign manual,

"Frederick Wilhelm."

But with all the training, military and otherwise, the
young prince could not be forced into an early love of
soldiering. A miniature soldier company of boys was
formed from the sons of noble families, to enable him to
learn his exercises while he was still a child, but he was
indifferent to the joys of drill. Neither could he be induced
to take pleasure in the shooting parties and boar hunts in
which he accompanied his father. The warrior king of
the future would slip away and hold musical concerts in
the woods with some of his young companions, or join his

CZAR PETER AT BERLIN, 25

1712-1717.

mother and her ladies when they were present at the
hunts. Music and philosophy, with the society of the
queen and his sister Wilhelmina, were more delightful
to him than the parade-ground or the sports in the field.
Even Latin was studied by him in secret, probably because
his father had attempted to deprive him of a liberal
education. Once the king caught him and one of the
minor tutors at work on Latin, having before them
among other books the Aurea Bulla, or Golden Bull of
Kaiser Karl IV. The trembling preceptor assured the
king that he was only explaining the Golden Bull to
his pupil. Up rose the rattan in the air over the tutor's
head, as his master roared, " Bog, I will Golden Bull
you ! " The young Frederick was inclined to foppishness,
combed his long hair in the French fashion of the day, like
a cockatoo, till his father ordered it to be cropped and pig-
tailed, and stood by while the operation was performed. In
short, the father was harsh and unsympathetic ; the son
inclined to contradiction. The king acted like a gross
sergeant-major even in mental exercises; the prince re-
torted by aiming at becoming a fop and a speculative
philosopher. The elder tried to break his family in by
starvation and the cane ; the family, queen, Wilhelmina,
and the young Fritz worked to get their own way by
deceiving the tyrant.

Wilhelmina, in her Memoire, tells some strange stories
of this and later times, and they are valuable as showing
the influences brought to bear on her brother. In 1717,
when the girl was eight years old, and the boy five, Peter
the Great passed through Berlin, on his way from France
to Bussia. The Czarina Catherine was attended by a bevy
of women, many of whom carried babies in their arms.
When asked if the children were theirs, each one replied,

26 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

1717 1730.

" The Czar m^afaitVhonneur de me /aire cet-enfant.^^ When
a German official waited on the Russian majesty to present
a complimentary address, the czar stood to receive it be-
tween two of these curious creatures, with his arms round
their necks. Even worse things than these are related of
his morality, tales which would be incredible but for the
consent of numerous witnesses. Wilhelmina and her
brother knew of all. And as a pendant to the brutality
of the czar, we have the miserish order of Frederick
William, who allowed the authorities on the line of the
Russian progress, only 6,000 thalers for expenses, but
ordered them to declare that it had cost the king thirty
or forty thousand. Truly a strange court for the training
of a boy.

Under these conditions of life, it is not wonderful that as
the young Frederick grew in years and stature, his dislike
to his father and the training which that father gave him
steadily increased. The breach between them widened, and
every taste of the king was outraged by opposite desires and
actions on the part of the prince. In those days force was
the only remedy for every difficulty which could not be over-
come by craft, and parents followed the advice of Solomon
in the treatment of their children, if in naught else. A king
who drove his subjects with the stick was not likely to
treat his family with gentleness; and the scenes in the
palace, as told by Wilhelmina and others, show that the self
will of Frederick William was exaggerated to the extent
of madness. On one occasion he attempted to strangle his
son with the cord of a curtain, and the mother and her
children existed in daily terror of their lives. Young
Frederick fell into a state of mental depression, and
sought relief from the misery he endured in scenes
of dissipation and debauchery. The V3ry elements of

A UG UST THE STRONG. 27

1717-1730.

morality were at this time almost unknown in courts.
Public opinion had no power ; the will of the sovereign
over-rode all laws, human and divine. One scene related by
Wilhelmina may serve to show the strange possibilities
which existed. When Frederick was sixteen years old he
accompanied his father to Saxony, then governed by August
the Strong, who was also King of Poland. King August
followed the example of Solomon in one respect, though
perhaps one only. He had by his concubines no less
than three hundred and fifty-four children, who had no
means of knowing that they owed their birth to the same
father. With him Frederick William feasted and drank
heavily. The episode which follows must be given in the
words of Wilhelmina's Memoires. Its truth is confirmed
by other writers.

One evening, when they had well sacrificed to Bacchus, the
King of Poland conducted the king (Frederick William) into a
room very richly ornamented, the furniture and arrangements of
which were in exquisite taste. The king, charmed with what he
saw, paused to look round him, when, suddenly, a curtain was
drawn up and displayed to him a most extraordinary sight — a
young girl in the condition of our first parents lying negligently
on a bed. She was ij^ore beautiful than Venus and the Graces are
painted, and displayed to view a form of ivory, whiter than snow
and shaped more beautifully than the Venus de Medici at
Florence. The cabinet which contained this treasure was lighted
by so many wax candles that their brilliancy was dazzling, and
gave additional splendour to the beauties of the goddess. The
authors of this comedy were in hopes that the object would make
an impression on the king's heart, but it turned out quite other_
wise. No sooner had he cast eyes on this beauty, than he turned
sharply round with indignation ; and seeing my brother behind
him pushed him roughly out of the room, and at once followed
him in great anger at the scene he had witnessed. He spoke of
it the same evening to Grumkow in strong terms, and declared

23 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1717-1730.

that, if the like happened again, he would leave Dresden imme-
diately. With my brother the result was different. In spite of
the king's care he had a full view of the Cabinet Venus, and the
eight of her did not inspire in him so much horror as in his
father.

In short, the Prince " obtained her from the King of
Poland in a manner curious enough." Yes, curious enough !
The bargain was that young Frederick should resign a
pursuit, in which he was engaged, of the Countess Or-
zelska, one of the three hundred and fifty four, who had
already been mistress to Count Rutofski, another of the
same band, and was now receiving the warm attentions of
August himself. If at this time the morals of young
Frederick were loose, his father's friends set him a bad
example.

The authors of Frederick's temptation at the Saxon
court were Grumkow, prime minister of Prussia, and
Count Seckendorf, secretly envoy of the kaiser, and
ostensibly Frederick William's friend and adviser. It was
but one of their schemes for breaking off a project of a
double marriage with the English royal family, concerning
which there had been long negotiations. Frederick was to
marry the Princess Amelia of Englandi^ and Wilhelmina,
the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards known as Frederick,
Prince of Wales. For political reasons it did not please
the Kaiser that Prussia should draw close to the sea
powers, and Seckendorf was the instrument selected, not
only to spoil this match, but to make a tool of the Prussian
monarch. Seckendorf visited Berlin, pretending a mission
to Denmark on urgent business for the Kaiser, too press-
ing even to brook the delay of presentation to the king.
Frederick William, looking out of the window of his
tobacco-parliament room, with Grumkow at his elbow,

ADVENT OF SECKENDORF. 20

"inM730.

saw Seckendorf crossing the parade. Rapid presentation
ensued, and invitation to remain for a while. Seckendorf
was coy, and a promise could hardly be drawn from him
that he would return after his visit to Denmark. Within
a few days he was at Potsdam again, and, thenceforth,
attended the King of Prussia, like an evil genius, separat-
. ing Frederick William from his natural Protestant allies,
and fomenting discord between him and his family. The
smoking room where the king used to sit and booze with
his boon companions, holding rough " parliament " there,
did him this evil turn. From it he first espied the man,
>who more than any other, brought misery to the royal
house of Prussia.

From the time of Seckendorf s appearance, the palace
witnessed strange and sad scenes. The royal children,
oppressed, ill-treated and threatened, did what lay in them
to deceive their hard father, and snatch by stealth the
natural pleasures which he denied to them. We do not
hear that young Fritz actually neglected his military
duties (he was now a major in the regiment of giants),
but they were, at least, distasteful to him, and his own
favourite pursuits — music and speculative philosophy —
were to his father as the red rag to a bull. Add to this
the daily struggles between the queen, who never ceased to
strive for the double marriage, with Seckendorf who fought
against it, and a growing irritability in the king, aggra-
vated by fits of gout ; and the result becomes a Prince's
Progress which must clearly end in catastrophe of some sort.
*' God grant he do not end on the gallows," said Frederick
William once to the serpent Grumkow. Meanwhile their
father supplied them with food hardly eatable, and Spat
in the dish to prevent their having enough. The king,
pushed by Seckendorf, had come to hate the English, and

80 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

' 15th July 1730.

Dubourgay relates that when Fritz once said in his father's
presence that he respected the English because he knew
that they loved him, Frederick William seized him by the
collar and struck him fiercely with his cane. In a letter to
his mother, Fritz speaks of a " shower of cruel blows " on
this occasion, says that he is in the uttermost despair, and
resolved to put an end to it in one way or another. The
double marriage project came to the ground with a crash
when the king, in a fit of passion, dashed down a docu-
ment presented to him by the English envoy, shouting,
"Messieurs, j'ai eu assez de ces choses la," and young
Frederick began to lay plans for escape by flight from a
life, the misery of which had become unendurable. It was
about this -period, in 1730, that the father attempted to
strangle his son with the cord of a curtain, and not with-
out reason did the Prince say that he feared for his life.
He was asked to resign his position of heir apparent, but
answered firmly " No ! unless your majesty is prepared to
deny the honour of my mother."

Two of Frederick's familiars. Lieutenant Katte, and
Keith, a page of the court, were made confidants of his
intentions, and helped to devise plans of escape. They
were unwise counsellors, careless and loose in their conduct,
but withal devoted to Fritz, who indeed sorely lacked sup-
port and sympathy from those who were older, and ought
to have been wiser. More than once Frederick formed
plans of escape, but they came to nothing, and on the 15th of
July, 1730, he set Qut with his father on a journey through
the Reich. His -designs were suspected, and he was placed
in charge of three oflicials. Seckendorf joined the party,
which proceeded as far as Augsburg without any incident
worth relating, then turned homewards by another way
intending to strike the Rhine at Mayence. Frederick was

BAFFLED FLIGHT OF FREDERICK. 81

4th Ang. 1730.

determined to escape during this journey, and foolishly
corresponded with Katte who remained at Berlin, Keith
travelling with the royal party. The place fixed for the
elopement was Sinzheim, where Keith was to procure post
horses, and ride with Frederick to Speyer, crossing the
Rhine there, and going on to Paris. Unfortunately for
the prince's designs, a sudden decision was taken to spend
the night at the village of Steinfurth, some five or six
miles short of Sinzheim. In the gray of the dawn, the 4th
of August, 1730, Frederick rose and left the barn where he
had slept in company with his guardian trio, went out and
found Keith ready with two horses. But before Frederick
could mount, his watchers were called by vigilant servants,"
and the project of flight was baffled. The same day an
intercepted letter of the prince's to Katte was brought to
Frederick William, and Keith confessed the plot. The
king was furious, and charged the guardians on their lives
to bring his son " living or dead " to Berlin. As soon as
the Rhine was reached, Frederick was placed, a prisoner,
on board a royal yacht. At Wesel he was brought on shore,
and had a terrible interview with the king, who drew sword
upon him, and would have thrust him through but for the
interference of the commandant, old General Mosel. They
were parted, and did not look on each other's faces again
for more than a year. Keith escaped, and his evasion
quickened the king's wrath against his son. Katte was
arrested at Berlin.

Courts of inquiry were held, the king insisting upon it
that Frederick was a deserter from the army. The rage of
the king knew no bounds. Every familiar friend of the
prince came under the royal fierce anger, which vented
itself in the very madness of cruelty. A Frenchman,
Count Montholieu, was nailed to the gallows in effigy, after

S2 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1717-1730.

flight, for having lent the prince money. Doris E-itter, an
honest girl, with whom Frederick had practised music, was
whipped through the streets by the beadle, and clapped in
prison for three years. Finally a court-martial was assem,
bled to try the prince, and the associates of his attempted
flight. Grumkow was a member. They condemned
Frederick to death, two members dissenting ; Keith, who
had escaped, to be nailed to the gallows in effigy ; and
Katte, who had only been cognisant of the flight, to per-
petual imprisonment in a fortress. This one morsel of
mercy was denied by the king, who ordered that Katte
should be beheaded, saying that " it is better that he should
die than that justice should depart out of the world."
Forthwith the king's counsellors, including even Seckendorf ,
implored mercy for the prince. The Kaiser and foreign
courts interposed to stay the hand of the madman, and
Frederick William at last consented to a milder punish-
ment. But Katte at least must die, and die, ordered
Frederick, before the eyes of his son. Some writers say
that this devilish sentence was actually carried out ; others,
that by the connivance of attendants, the prince was only
forced to see his friend on his way to the block. Certain
it is, that Frederick saw Katte pass his window close by,
and implored his pardon. " Death is sweet for so lovable
a prince," replied the unhappy youth. Nature was more
merciful than the king. Frederick fainted, and saw his
friend no more.

When Frederick awoke to life and captivity, Miiller, the
chaplain of the gens d'armes, was with him, and c^ered
cooling drinks, which the unhappy prince refused, suspect-
ing poison, till Miiller swallowed a portion, when the poor
lad drank with avidity. Muller's business was to wean
him from what his father considered as Calvinistic heresy.

SUBMISSION. 33

1717—1730.

It is evident that at this time the burning soul of Frederick
was struggling for spiritual light. But for such purpose
there should be liberty to think freely, not the compulsion
of prison walls. Miiller, on receiving back a Concordance
which he had lent to the prince, found sketched on the
fly-leaf the figure of a man on his knees, with two swords
hanging crossed over his head. Below were written the
words of the Psalmist : " Whom have I in heaven but Thee,
and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee.
My flesh and my heart fainteth and faileth; but God is
the strength of my heart and my portion for ever."
Miiller had also to deliver to Frederick, Katte's last words
of advice to him, that he should submit to his father.
Submission soon came. What with the nervous shock he
had received on seeing Katte led out to die, and the ghostly
ministrations of the chaplain, perhaps also the absence of
his father's irritating ways, the will of the youth yielded.
He took and signed an oath of submission on the 19th
of November, Katte having died on the 6th. Frederick
William prayed that **his godless heart may be beaten
till it is softened and changed, and so he be snatched from
the claws of Satan." Thus the imagination of men con-
ceives a god like themselves, and the Bear of Berlin places
a rattan in the hands of Omnipotence.

Frederick was released from confinement, but placed
under surveillance, and not allowed to leave Ciistrin without
permission. He was deprived of military uniform, put
into a pike-grey frock, with narrow silver cord for orna-
ment, and made a member of the Board for Managing
Domain Lands, there to learn practically the economics
which had been instilled into him theoretically as a boy.
His further treatment was to depend on his diligence
and good behaviour. Meanwhile Wilhelmina was almost

D

34 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

20th Nov. 1731— 12th June 1733.

starved. " Soup of salt and water, and ragout of old bones
full of hairs and slopperies," thus she describes the food
grudgingly dealt out to her. The French Protestant colony
in Berlin, hearing of her case, left baskets of eatables for
her and her governess in out-of-the-way places where they
could be picked up. At last the tide began to turn. There
was talk of marriage for her with the Margrave of Baireuth,
then betrothal, a visit of the king to his son, who fell at
his feet and kissed the royal shoes ; the marriage of Wil-
helmina on the 20th of November, 1731, and on the 23rd
her much -loved brother returned to her. But not the old
brother of her love. A changed, cold man, with a touch
of the father's critical ways, and, worst of all to the
feminine mind, with reasons for what he did. His reasons
were good. Next day he appeared once more in uniform
on parade with his regiment, of which he was made colonel
commandant in February of the following year. One slight
struggle more he had against betrothal to the Princess of
Brunswick Bevern, a lady whose qualities were opposed to
all he had dreamed of in a wife ; but he submitted to what
he called his hard fate, was betrothed on the 10th of March,
1732, and married on the 12th of June, 1733. It was far
from being a love match, and there were no children. The
pair can hardly be said to have lived together at all, and
the princess need not be mentioned again, as she exercised
no influence over the events of Frederick's life.

About six months before the marriage, and during the
time of betrothal, Frederick "William was startled by a
proposal from the Kaiser, through Seckendorf, to throw
away his plighted word, get rid also, it appears, of Wilhel-
mina's husband, and bring about the double marriage with
England after all. The king was struck to the heart by
this proof that the emperor, to whom he had been devotedly

BASE ACTS OF THE KAISER. 35

1733—1734.

loyal all his life, should tempt him to do what he considered
as the act of a scoundrel. Throughout his reign the influ-
ence of Austria had been promised to him in securing the
succession to Berg and Jiilich,^ and this was the main lever
of Seckendorf to move the power of Prussia. But, with
the absolute faithlessness which was the tone of courts in
that day, the Kaiser had promised his influence for the
same succession to two other different candidates, and this
seemed to dawn upon Frederick William when, after some
negotiation through Grumkow, Seckendorf actually spoke
to the king. Seckendorf s words are not known, nor the
exact nature of the shock which he administered to
Frederick William ; enough that it uprooted his faith in
the Kaiser and his own self-esteem. Speaking of it after-
wards he said, " It was as if you had turned a dagger
about in my heart. That man was he that killed me.
Then and there I got my death." He spoke of it often in
years to come, and would say, with tears running down his
cheeks in grief and rage, " Da steht einer der mich rachen
wird." ** There stands one (Fritz) who will avenge me."
So the legacy to Austria was growing. The first king
says, '* My rights on Silesia I leave intact for my posterity
to prosecute." The second, "There stands one who will
avenge me."

In 1734 Frederick accompanied, as a volunteer, his
father's contingent of 10,000 men to the Kaiser's cam-
paign on the Bhine. Prince Eugene was in command of
the Beich's army. But time had dimmed the brightness of
the old general's faculty for war, and there was no fighting
worthy of attention. The young prince showed uncommon
coolness, riding at a foot's pace between the two armies
under a hot fire, and conversing tranquilly with the
^ See chap. i. p. 8.

D 2

36 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1734.

generals who accompanied him. This is to be remem-
bered when we come to remark his conduct on a later
occasion. A light is thrown on his opinions of the inces-
sant machine-like drill of the Prussian army by a letter of
his to Lieutenant Groben, written on the 17th of August,
wherein he says : — " The drill-demon has now got into the
Kaiser's people too ; Prince Eugene has grown heavier
with his drill than we ourselves. He is often three hours at
it, and the Kaiser's people curse us for the saipe." Yet these
'* Kaiser's people " were *' left seven days without bread/'
and generally were seen to want many things more than
drill. At this time his father fell ill, nearly to death, and
Frederick saw close to him the liberty and power he
desired. The old king recovered, but was never himself
again. In the years of weakness which followed he was
often represented by his son, whom he began to recognise
as a worthy successor, while that son learnt to appreciate
the finer qualities in the rough taskmaster who had trained
him with so stern a hand. This period was marked by
increasing coldness between Frederick William and the
Kaiser, by a correspondence of Fritz with Voltaire, and
the writing by the prince of a book called the Anti-
Macchiavel, a work intended as a refutation of Macchiavelli's
Prince, and full of advanced ideas and noble thoughts as to
the duties of a king, who, wrote Frederick, should practise
truth and be " the born servant of his people." He meant
what he said at the time, but who could be faithful to such
an ideal amid the lying, corruption, and chicanery which
was the daily life of European courts at that era ? More
than one of them supplied money for Frederick's necessities,
hoping by that means to bind him in golden chains.

As the king found himself gradually failing he drew
closer to his son, and many acts of human kindness passed

DEATH OF THE OLD KING. 37

1740.

between them. The shadow of the coming fate began to
creep over the broken man, and softened the rugged out-
lines of his character. He had put faith in the goodwill of
the Kaiser, and found himself betrayed in the matter of
Jiilich and Berg. He had thought his son a reprobate,
and that son was growing all that he could desire. There
were strange bear-like hugs between them, not altogether
without scratches. In April, 1740, Fritz entered the
tobacco parliament when his father was there. The party,
contrary to rule, rose on seeing him, in homage to the
rising sun. Frederick "William was so offended that he
had his chair wheeled out at once, exclaiming, *' You shall
know that I am not yet dead." It was long before ♦he
would forgive the courtiers. In May he was disputing
with his chaplain as to the light in which some phases of
his life would be regarded by the Great Judge before
whom he had no doubt that he would soon appear. One
point in his favour he clung to ; he had never been an
unfaithful husband. On the 26th of May he sent for his
son, and at sight of him held out his arms. Fritz knelt,
and the strange pair wept in each other's arms. The
same day the dying king dictated exact instructions for
his funeral, ordering that the volleys over his grave should
be fired with attention to accuracy of time. His coffin he
had long had ready in the palace, made exactly according to
his instructions. When they were singing a German hymn
to him which contained the well-known words, ''Naked
came I into the world and naked shall I go," he said, " No,
not quite naked ; I shall have my uniform on." He picked
out good horses as gifts to his friends, saw a last parade
from his window, abdicated in favour of his son, inspected
his servants in their new liveries, faintly saying, " O
vanity ! O vanity ! " regarded his face in a mirror to see

38 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

31st May 1740.

how it looked in the agonies of death, and spoke for his
last words, " Lord Jesus, to Thee I live ; Lord Jesus, to
Thee I die ; in life and death Thou art my gain/' He died
on the 31st of May, 1740, and the destinies of Prussia were
henceforth confided to the hands of his son, who,- next
morning, broke into a passion of tears on seeing a regiment
swearing fealty to him ; and seven years after concluded
a history of Frederick William in these words : ** We have
left under silence the domestic chagrins of this great
prince : readers must have some indulgence for the faults
of the children in consideration of the virtues of such a
father.'*

CHAPTER III.

THE STATE OF EUEOPE.

18th century.

The eighteenth century has been said, on one hand, to
have no history, and, on the other, to be the father of
modern history. "Whatever truth there may be in either
of these phrases it is certain that the period was one of
transition not only in the power of states, but in the
political ideas of mankind. The eighteenth century began
with the dynastic war of the Spanish Succession, it ended
with the French Revolution and the birth of those republi-
can institutions which have since modified profoundly the
thoughts and actions of civilised men even in countries
which still remain monarchical. In its opening years courts
and aristocracy were powerful and corrupt to a degree now
almost incredible. In old established monarchies such as
France and Spain, the contempt of the rich and high born
for the poor, who but lived to minister to their pleasures,
had already begotten a savage desire for resistance to daily
oppression. The working classes were dogs to their
masters, but dogs no longer licking the hands which
threw occasional scraps to them. Luxury in the upper
classes and the growing hatred of the pdor, had sapped
the strength of nations formerly all-powerful.

40 FREDERICK THE GREA T.

18th Centmy.
But tli& decay was imperceptible at the beginning of the
century, especially in France — the worst offender and most
dangerous mine of explosive materials in Europe. France
was apparently rising as a monarchy, and by means of the
very cynicism which afterwards led to the destruction of
the royal house. In the Thirty Years' War, while Europe
was being torn by religious struggles, the last that have
occurred ; Richelieu had strengthened the army in order to
assert the supremacy of the Bourbon over the Hapsburg
dynasty. While persecuting the Huguenots at home
he prepared to support the Protestants abroad. His
ambition was to cut off Spain from the Netherlands, and
the Kaiser from the northern states of Europe. He had
succeeded in both endeavours. The Bhine, both at its
source and mouth, was wrested from the hands of the
Hapsburgs. The United Provinces and Switzerland were
declared legally independent ; and France, fairly seated in
the towns and fortresses guarding the course of the river,
had become little less than the arbiter of Europe. War
followed war, the religious question dropping more and more
out of sight, and the idea of " the balance of power " rising
in its stead. Each court was struggling for its own advan-
tage, and the intrigues which took place round the sick
couch of Old Spain were no grander, though their scale was
larger, than those of grasping relatives round the death
bed of a childless millionaire. No one of the intriguers
gave a single thought for the slaughter which must take
place, or dreamt of consulting the wishes of the people
who would have to die for the furtherance or opponence of
schemes concerning which they were absolutely ignorant.
Treaties might be called " felonious " or " highway robbery "
in the English House of Commons, but there was not a
crowned head in Europe into whose brain the idea of

KINGS INTRIGUING. PEOPLE STARVING. 41

18th Century.

justice entered for a moment. Within and without the
borders of their kingdoms justice only meant the assertion
of their will by the strong.

It is also remarkable that a wild spirit of gambling had
taken possession of society from top to bottom. Mississippi
schemes and South Sea bubbles were but one expression
of a recklessness which was universal. If common men
gambled in shares, monarchs habitually staked with light
hearts their en^)ires on the chances of war. And this they
did regardless of the social cancers, luxury, vice, misery,
which were eating the hearts of nations. While Louis
XIY. was spending vast sums on his wars, his mistresses,
and his fortifications, Yauban ^ estimated that every tenth
man in ^France was an actual mendicant, five-tenths did not
absolutely beg, but were on the verge of starvation ; three-
tenths were ill at ease, embarrassed with debts and law
suits ; and even of the remaining tenth — the army, the
bar, and the clergy, the high noblesse, the distinguished
noblesse, the officials, the good tradesmen and burghers
having property, perhaps a hundred thousand families in
all — not more than one-tenth were really in easy circum-
stances. This was the estimate of the great engineer
whose business it was to design the fortresses which have
descended to our day. The desolation of France was so
great that wolves came down out of the hills of Auvergne
and ravaged the valley of the Loire. Other countries
were equally afflicted, nor was there any hope of justice or
mercy for the pbor. The success of suits was obtained by
bribing the mistresses of royal personages, and great
ministers had to begin every diplomatic attempt at a
foreign court by obtaining in one way or another the

^ Dixme Royale.

42 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

18th Century.

favour of the class least capable of appreciating the real
condition of the people.

Yet, in this strange condition of afEairs, France was
the rising nation, both Austria and Spain receding before
her. Alsace, Lorraine, the Rhine fortresses, were hers, and
when Frederick came to the throne her army was the
largest and had the greatest reputation in Europe. At
that time commerce had revived under the hand of Fleury,
and her East India Company was growing rapidly, though
the people were no better fed or happier for it. All
incoming riches went to swell the expenditure and feed the
luxury of the court and its small charmed circle. In 1739
D'Argenson^ wrote that "in time of peace, with all
appearance of an average, if not an abundant crop, men
are dying round us as thick as flies ; they are wretched,
eating grass." And in another place he says : " More
Frenchmen have died of misery in these two years than
were killed in all the wars of Louis XIV." The French
court was more ambitious of dictating to the rest of Europe
than of saving the lives of the people.

Austria was even weaker. Equally poor from the results
of her late wars, she had not even an army. Her forces at
home had almost disappeared ; she was still in terror of
Turkey, and all her neighbours awaited the first oppor-
tunity to cut slices from her. The Kaiser spent his life in
getting signatures to a piece of parchment which would
give a theoretical title to his daughter, instead of filling
his treasury and preserving his army as* Prince Eugene
advised him.

England was comparatively rich, and her people had
already won their liberties. A sea power by necessity, she

^ Memoirs du Marquis d'Argenson,

STATE OF THE NATIONS. 43

18th Century.

was vaguely yearning for the command of the ocean, and
in that pursuit saw as her rivals France and Spain, but
chiefly Spain. Commerce and colonies were the direction
of her natural development, and the passion aroused by
the famous episode of Jenkins's ear, was a natural out-
burst of the desire which could not be gratified so long as
Spain had the virtual monopoly of the Western trade. But
her new royal house had hung Hanover round her neck, and
caused an unfounded and unnatural jealousy of the rising
Prussia. The struggle with Spain at sea was unceasing,
though it only took declared shape in 1739. England may
therefore be said to have been divided between her natural
instincts on the Spanish Main and her artificial interests in
' Germany, which led her at first to look with disfavour upon
Prussia. Her natural allies were the Dutch and Prussia,
her artificial the nations with which she at first acted.

Thus, then, France was strong in military power, with a
cancer consuming her vitals ; Spain, much weakened, and
coming into natural collision with England ; Austria, weak
in her army, and in dissension with Hungary; Italy, a
^ battle-field for all the powers ; Russia making her first
steps out of barbarism ; England growing at sea and rich,
but almost destitute of an army ; Prussia poor, but strong
in her army and in the frugality and discipline impressed
upon her by the House of Hohenzollern. But her strength
was not appreciated by other powers; the eccentricities
of Frederick William had obscured his higher qualities,
and no one in Europe knew what was to come out of the
stormy youth of the young Frederick.

The armies of Europe were organised very differently
from those of our own time. The soldiers were generally
recruited for an indefinite period, and might serve for the
whole of their vigorous life, or be dismissed to their

44 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

18th Century.

homes if the kings did not require their services. The
fire-arm of the infantry was a smooth-bore musket, which
carried only about two hundred yards, and with very little
accuracy, wliile much time was required to load it. In the
time of Frederick William, Prince Leopold of Anhalt-
Dessau, who was as thorough a drill sergeant as the king
himself, introduced the iron ramrod, which quickened the
loading ; but it is a mistake to attribute the successes of
Frederick the Great to this very trifling development. No
division or brigade organisation existed, nor was there any
tactical unit between the whole army, or such a part of it
as might be broken off for particular purposes, and the
battalion of infantry or regiment of cavalry. Artillery
was very backward, both in material and organisation.
The universal practice was to attach two guns, three
pounders or six-pounders, to a battalion of infantry, and
there remained besides an indefinite number of pieces,
sometimes of heavier calibre, which acted directly under
the orders of the commander-in-chief of the army. In
many cases there were no artillerymen at all with the
battalion guns, and in the heat of the fight the guns were
commonly forgotten by the commander of the battalion,
falling as a rule into the hands of the victors.

The general characteristic of armies so organised was
extreme slowness of motion and heaviness of manoeuvre.
The gi'eat victories of Marlborough could not have been
won in the manner they were but for what we should now
consider a strange supineness on the part of the enemy.
"Wlun a position was once taken up, generally after many
hours spent in marches and deployments, the commander
of the force was loth to attempt any movement on the field
/of battle which might throw his troops into confusion. An
army deployed was usually in two lines, each three deep.

STIFF MILITARY MOVEMENnTS. 45

'sth Century,

To move to a flank, the whole force was thrown into column,
and, seeing that the fight was carried on at very close
quarters, it was almost impossible to execute such a
manoeuvre after the battle was engaged. That general
who, like Marlborough, had the courage to attack, and the
military insight to discover the weak point of the enemy,
might indeed, as at Blenheim, cease his unavailing efforts
at one point, move his troops away, and direct them against
a weaker spot in the enemy's formation ; or he might, as
at Ramillies, neglect one part of his adversary's line alto-
gether if it could not advance, and throw his whole force
against another part. But in such a case success depended
upon considerable want of insight on the part of the enemy,
and was not attained by any special rapidity of manoeuvre
on the field of battle.

It is evident that all movements made in the lumbering
manner characteristic of that day depended for their execu-
tion on the greatest mechanical precision and steadiness of
drill ; for, if an enemy . moving to a flank lost or gained \
ever so little distance between the companies or battalions^ ^
the wheel into line afterwards performed to face the enemy
again would present either a huddled crowd or a line torn
into tatters. Here, then, we see the very serious advantage
possessed by the Prussian army as handed down by
Frederick William to his son. The king was himself the
great drill sergeant of Europe, and his efforts had been
seconded by Prince Leopold, who was equally exact and
persevering, while his original faculty was greater. Nor
must it be supposed that the training of the Prussian army
consisted in barrack-square drills alone ; on the contrary,
there had already been instituted the practice of those field
operations which, under the title of autumn manoeuvres,
have since become a regular military institution in every

46 FREDERICK TEE GREAT.

18th Century.

European army. "When the Prussian troops first found
themselves in presence of an enemy on the field of battle,
there was nothing novel to them in the spectacle. They
had been accustomed to face a supposed enemy in their
mimic campaigns. The habit of attacking and defending
under various circumstances had already been formed,
and death itself had few terrors for men whose whole life
was for the most part a succession of miseries and petty
tyrannies — for the hand of military discipline was terribly
heavy, and there was no refuge in the law against the
oppression of the hardest of military taskmasters. A cam-
paign, with all its privations, was little harder than the
daily lot of the Prussian soldier in garrison at home, and
actual war brought him at least excitement, praise, and
even rewards in money. He probably lived better on the
spoils of an enemy's country than on his usual rations;
and the interest of the march and the combat was a
pleasant alleviation to the fearful monotony of constant
drill. We shall see that, in the course of the Seven Years
"War, the old Prussian infantry became almost extinguished,
but by that time the genius of Frederick the Great had
given him so great a moral ascendancy, and he knew so
well how to handle the material which he possessed, that
up to the very last he continued to win battles when all
the odds were against him. By a happy combination of
wiliness and audacity he deceived his enemy, and attacked
him at a disadvantage.

CHAPTER lY.

FREDERICK ON THE THRONE. LIBERAL MEASURES. INCREASE

OF THE ARMY. VISIT TO STRASBURG. AFFAIR OF HERSTAL.

DEATH OF THE KAISER. — PRAGMATIC SANCTION BREAKS

DOWN. DECISION TO OCCUPY SILESIA.

1740.

1740.

Ko authentic portraits of Frederick as king exist any-
where. Pesne, a French refugee, and an artist of consider-
able power, painted him twice — as a Child beating a drum,
with Wilhelmina looking on, and as Crown Prince. From
these and other sources it is known that he was below the
middle height, rather handsome, with oval, aquiline face,
and blue-grey eyes of extraordinary brilliancy and vivacity
— eyes that spoke the thoughts of the vivid brain behind
them, and could terrify or enchant as the mood of the
young king might turn. Without doubt his mind was full
of schemes for the improvement of his people and their
preparatibn for higher destinies. In many respects he
anticipated the progress in civil and religious liberty which
has since become the common property of civilised man-
kind. Indeed there are, even now, portions of Europe
where religious freedom, however professedly guaranteed,
is not so real as that of the Prussians under Frederick.
Less than a month after his father's death the Department

48 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

June 1740.

of Religious Affairs sought his decision on the question
what was to be done in the case of the Roman Catholic
schools for soldiers' children of that faith, which had been
abusing their privileges, and turning themselves into
centres of proselytism. The answer rings true in that age
of religious prejudice : ** All religions must be tolerated,
and the fiscal must watch {das Auge darauf haben) that
none of them shall do injury to the others ; for here every
one shall be saved (Selig werden) in his own way." The
press also was practically set free, and Frederick instituted
a Literary and Political Newspaper for the instruction of
the people. He abolished legal torture, with which he had
himself been threatened during the days which followed
his attempt to escape, and made plans for the establish-
ment, or rather development, of the Academy of Sciences
on a grand scale. All these reforms were commenced in
the first week of his reign, and were efforts to carry out
the principle which he announced on the second day, " Our
great care will be to further the country's well-being, and
to make every one of our subjects contented and happy."
There had been famine in the land before his father's
death, but the old king had hesitated to open the state
corn magazines lest he should be cheated. Frederick the
Second opened them at once for the benefit of the poor, and
established houses wherein a thousand poor old women
were comfortably fed and clad ; but, with characteristic
economy, he set them to spin. Like Henry V. of England,
whom he resembled in many points, Frederick turned
away from the companions of his looser pleasures, and
to one who tried to be familiar and jocose, said, " I am
now king." On the other hand, he sent for all the young
men whom he had observed to be steady and capable, and
induced them to enter his service. This was the nearest

VISIT TO STUASBURG, 49

AugTTst 1740.

approach which he made to his father's enlistment of
giants. Frederick William sought for masses of flesh;
Frederick the Great for massive brains and clear intellects.
The one recruited big men by force, the other, bright men
by persuasion and benefits. To his mother he gave love,
respect, and comfort. He created a new and charming
title for her ; she was not to be the Queen Dowager, but
** Her Majesty the Queen Mother," and he never failed to
visit her every day when he was at Berlin, nor spoke to
her without hat in hand. He put an end to the shabby
style of court so dear to his parsimonious father, and main-
tained a moderate number of court functionaries. The
ridiculous giants were abolished as soldiers, some of them
pensioned, others turned into doorkeepers and the like.
Their places were filled by new regiments of well-trained
soldiers, and he increased the army by about 16,000 men,
so that it now mustered 100,000 — a grand unit in the
forces of Europe.

One trifling incident there was of the nature of an
escapade on Frederick's part before the wild leaven was set
to work entirely on the soldier's craft. In August he set
out on a journey to Cleves, visiting his sister at Baireuth
on his way. Wilhelmina found him changed, somewhat
stilted and stiff, the kingly robes not yet sitting easily
upon him. From Baireuth, instead of going to Cleves,
he struck southward to Strasburg, and slipped incognito
into France as Count Dufour. He hoped even to visit
Paris in this easy fashion, but, being recognised as King of
Prussia at Strasburg, gave up the idea, and turned back
within forty-eight hours. He caught the philosopher,
Maupertuis, at Wesel, and had a visit — longed for during
many years — from Voltaire himself, at the castle of
Mayland near Cleves. As Yoltaire went in at the gate,

£0 FREDERICK TEE GREAT.

1740.

he met Councillor Rambonet on his way out, and Lis
mission is the first use of high-handed power which is
knowli of the master of 100,000 soldiers. Herstal, a
small place, which with other heritages had fallen in to
Frederick William, had refused to own his sway. The
Bishop of Liege claimed it, and resisted Frederick
William's recruiting parties there. The old king offered
, to sell it to the bishop, but could arrive at no definite
settlement, and let it alone. A week before Voltaire's
arrival, Rambonet had paid one visit to the bishop,
requiring within two days a distinct answer to the
question whether he still intended to abet the rebellious
people of Herstal. Still no definite answer could be
obtained, and Rambonet had now to deliver to the bishop
Frederick's promise of punishment. General Borck was
sent with 2,000 men to occupy part of the bishop's proper
territory, and lie there at his expense till the prelate
should come to a better frame of mind. He occupied
Maaseyk, and exacted a contribution of 20,000 thalers
besides living at free charges — the requisition system not
unknown to the German army in this century. The bishop
applied to the Kaiser, who ordered Frederick to withdraw
his forces ; but not having 100,000 men ready to march
against Prussia, took no steps to enforce the decree.
Neither French nor Dutch were in better case to help,
and the bishop was at last fain to compromise the dispute
by paying 240,000 thalers for Herstal, instead of the
100,000 for which he might have had it from Frederick
William. The young king retired to Reinsberg, there to
spend some time in rest and relaxation. But the Kaiser's
interference, unbacked by force, had added one drop more
to the cup of bitterness which the HohenzoUerns had held
to their lips for many years, and Frederick was soon to

DEATH OF THE KAISER. 61

20tb Oct.-6th Dec. 1740.

dash it to the ground. On the 20th of October, 1740, about
a fortnight after the date of the demand that Frederick
should leave the bishop's territory. Kaiser Karl VI. died,
and his daughter, Maria Theresa, was proclaimed inheritress
of his power, wheresoever it had extended.

Now, if ever, the painful efforts made by the late Kaiser
must bear fruit in a general recognition of the Pragmatic
Sanction. Couriers sped forth to announce the news in all
the embassies of Europe, and to the electors of the Reich
who had to choose the new Emperor of Germany. Sharply
back from Bavaria, the nearest court, came the reply. It
was a protest against the Pragmatic Sanction, and the
right of Maria Theresa to a great part of the titles and
power which she had assumed. Nay more, Bavaria was
prepared to make good the claims of its prince to Bohemia
and even part of Austria. France was known to be
covertly or openly a natural foe to Austria, and endeavour-
ing to supplant her in various quarters. She was actually
ready to back the Bavarian claims.^ The Saxon and other
electors were certainly not warm lovers of the late imperial
court. The Czarina of Bussia, who might have helped
Austria, died opportunely a few days after the Kaiser.
Frederick had now to take his part, and he seems not to
have hesitated for an instant. He decided that, for the
time at any rate, his chances in a war were good ; that,
later, either France or England must be on his side, and
that now or never must he discharge the legacies bequeathed
by his predecessors, and take possession of Silesia. His
ministers arrived at Beinsberg, but found that his resolu-
tion was already taken, and that their advice must be

* For an interesting, though one-sided, picture of these various acts
of treachery, see the Due de Broglies book, Frederic II. et Marie
Therese.

£ 2

52 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

20th Oct.-6th Dec. 1740.

limited to the " how " and the " when," for the " whether "
was as fixed as if action had already been taken. It was
clear to his mind that the old political system had expired
with the Kaiser, and that they who would hold a good
place in the new must bestir themselves. He was for
taking Silesia at once, openly, with the strong hand in
assertion of his rights ; but his ministers advised him to
leave an opening for agreement with Maria Theresa by
declaring only that he was about to' take charge of Silesia
and keep it for the rightful owner. A flimsy pretext this,
but worthy of the diplomacy of the eighteenth century.
A.11 the world knew that the Hohenzollerns claimed Silesia,
and for whom else were they likely to hold it % Clearly,
Frederick put no trust in this shabby device, for he first
veiled his intentions in impenetrable silence, and when tho
moment came for movement declared openly that he was
going to war. Though international law was then estab-
lished and codified in learned volumes, it had not yet made
much impression on the minds of the many, nor was
there, except to some extent in England, a public opinion
capable of resisting the desire of monarchs for more
territory and military glory. Even in England the
apocryphal story of Jenkins's ears and other fictitious
tales had been sufficient to create a war with Spain. With-
out asserting that Frederick was morally right— for who
can ever be right in making war lightly 1 — it may be fairly
said that he acted in consonance with the spirit of his time,
and had as much justice on his side then as could be urged
in favour of some wars in our own generation. Granted
that he let slip the dogs of war on Europe, it is none the
less true that they were straining at the leash, and it was
only a question of time when the frail restraint should be
worn through.

FREDERICK ENTERS SILESIA. 53

«th-13th Dec. 1740.

The intentions of Frederick were unknown, though it
soon began to be evident that military preparations were
on foot. Wily diplomatists sought to penetrate the veil.
Even Voltaire under literary pretexts went to Berlin, was
received graciously, and took part in a series of gaieties,
but failed to discover the secret. At last on the 6th of
December it was announced to the foreign ambassadors
at Berlin that the king was about to move a body of troops
into Silesia, the pretext being that sketched by his ministers
at Reinsberg. On the morning of the 13th, after a ball at
the palace, Frederick stepped into a carriage and started
for Frankfurt on the Oder, having a day or two before
addressed his generals in a short speech commencing with
these words: — "Gentlemen, I am undertaking a war in
which I have no allies but your valour and goodwill."

He had already sent to Yienna an offer ^ to accept a
part of Silesia in settlement of his claims, but had little
doubt of the answer. On the 13th of December, 1740,
the Eubicon was passed, and the philosopher and musician
commenced that military career which was destined to
place him in the front rank of generals for all time.

^ The proposal was : To ally himself and liis army with Maria
Theresa and defend her rights against other claimants ; to resign the
claims of the Hohenzollerns to Jiilich and Berg ; to help the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, Maria Theresa's husband, to obtain the imperial
crown ; and to pay a large sum of money into the Austrian exchequer,
then sorely in need of it. In return for these services he demanded
the four duchies of Silesia, hut was prepared to accept instead Savan
and Glogau, which were on his frontier.

CHAPTER y.

THE SILESIAN STRU(?GLE BEGINS. — BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ.

A.D. ] 740— 1741.

14th-2Sth Dec. 1740.

On the 14th of December, Frederick was at Crossen, the
place of concentration for his army. The force was about
28,000 strong, one-fourth being cavahy, and thirty-two
pieces of artillery, of which twenty were three-pounders,
four twelve-pounders, four howitzers, and four fifty-pound
mortars. The number of artillerymen was only 166.
About 10,000 were to follow from Berhn in two days. At
Crossen the king received and put aside a protest from the
authorities at Griinberg on the other side of the frontier
against his entering Silesia. This was all in proper order,
but could have no effect. While the king was at Crossen,
the old bell held up by rotten supports, came thundering
down. " This is a good omen," said Frederick ; "the high
are to be brought low." On the 16th of December the march
began. The usual proclamations of invaders were issued.
" The troops come as friends. There is to be strict discipline ;
no plunder, and the best treatment for all who submit." At
Griinberg, the burgermaster would not actually give the
key of the town, but allowed it to lie on the table and be
taken up by a Prussian officer without resistance. This

occur A TION OF SILESIA. 65

14th-2Sth Dec. 1740.

diplomatic action may be taken as the type of Silesia's
yielding at first. The country made no pretence of
objection, and the towns, whispering they would ne'er
consent, consented. Let us not forget that Silesia was
more than half Protestant, and had suffered under Austrian
religious intolerance. Chains of mountains divided it
from Bohemia and Moravia ; it was fully open to Prussia.
The Austrian military governor, Count Wallis, had pro-
posed on the first alarm, some time ago, to throw a garrison
into Breslau, the capital of the province and a free city, but
the citizens would have none of it, saying that they were
quite able to defend themselves, and even drilling vigor-
ously. They sent provisions however into Glogau, where,
strongly fortified. Count Wallis placed himself and a
garrison, leaving his second in command. General Browne,
to attend to the other two strong places, Brieg and Neisse.
The march of the Prussians was slow. The weather, wet
and stormy, was against them, and floods impeded their pro-
gress ; but it is quite evident that at this time Frederick
was a tyro in war, and did not understand, as he afterwards
came to do, the value of celerity in movement. His army
moved in two columns, not counting the reserve which was
coming up from Berlin. The right column under Schwerin
moved up the valley of the river Bober towards Liegnitz ;
the left, under the king, marched upon Glogau, but reach-
irg Herrendorf, five miles from the fortress, and finding
Glogau prepared for defence, remained inactive there dur-
ing six days — days of great importance, for this and other
delays gave General Browne time to organise some sort of
defence, to mend the fortifications of Brieg and Neisse,
and throw garrisons, each 1,600 strong, and provisions into
them. Glogau remained firm in its attitude of resistance.
Frederick sent back for a siege train, but finally decided to

56 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

14th Dec. m0-2nd Jan. 1741.

invest tlie place and leave part of the reserve there under
the younger Prince of Dessau, whose father had introduced
the iron ramrods, and was now left behind to take charge
of the defence of Prussia during Frederick's absence. The
army lived chiefly by requisitions with promise to pay at a
specified future time. The promise was faithfully kept, and
it may be said once for all that Frederick's system of feed-
ing his army by forced contributions punctually paid for,
was in its nature and essence the same as that practised by
the German armies to this day. The country was divided
into circles, and the chief men of each circle were made
responsible that troops passing through should receive all
they required ; the word being passed from circle to circle
in advance, what number of troops were coming, and the
jirobable date of their arrival. This was the forerunner of
the modern etappen system which has been derived from
Frederick, and modified to suit the new conditions of rail-
ways and telegraphs. The king was already business-like,
though as yet not experienced in the great operations of
war.

On the 28th of December, Schwerin occupied Liegnitz in
the early morning, and, about the same time, the king's
column pushed forward on march to Breslau, yielding the
duty of blockading Glogau to young Leopold of Dessau,
who had come up the day before. Browne had put all the
pressure he could on Breslau to receive an Austrian
garrison ; but the people were as firm in denial as they
had been to Count Wallis, and all Browne could do was to
carry off the archives of the town, transporting them into
Moravia. Frederick marched rapidly upon Breslau, seventy
miles in three days, and by dint of combined negotiation
and pressure of armed parties, had the town opened to him
on the 2nd of January. The Austrian authorities were sent

FORTRESSES HOLD OUT. h1

2nd Jan.-24th Feb. 1741.

out of the town, and a campaign commissariat was organ-
ised, nominally for military purposes. As time went on,
the one organisation of the place asserted its power, and
virtually became the government, to the contentment of
the Protestant majority.

On the 6th of January Frederick marched southward
again, having previously detached General Jeetz to the left,
to capture Namslau, a small town and castle on the road to
Poland and Hungary, then to sweep round and invest Brieg
from the east. Schwerin, with the right column, had also
made a detachment to his right into the county of Glatz.
So far all had gone well, but now the king began to feel
General Browne's retarding efforts. Ohlau fell without
difficulty, but Brieg, with its garrison of 1,600 good troops,
refused to yield, though summoned by General Kleist, de-
tached from the king's force on the south, and General
Jeetz on the north. These detachments were left to invest
the place, and the king pushed on towards Neisse. Even
the little Namslau was stubborn, and Neisse could neither
be tempted by good terms nor overawed by the display of
the forces of Frederick and Schwerin, who by this time had
rejoined the king, after capturing Ottmachau by force.
The resistance of such places as Namslau and Ottmachau,
though trifling in itself, served to delay the Prussians, who
had been already too slow, and gave time for Neisse to pre-
pare her defences. Jeetz received siege guns about the
24th, and quickly captured Namslau, after which he com-
pleted the investment of Brieg. Thus the greater part of
Silesia was occupied without resistance ; only the three
fortresses, Glogau, Brieg, and Neisse held out in a deter-
mined manner, and the slowness of Frederick had given
time for Neisse to be well armed and provisioned, its de-
fence being in the hands of Colonel von Roth, a good and

^ 68 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

19th Jan.-27th Feb. 1741.
determined officer. After some preliminary cannonade, a
regular bombardment, partly with red-hot shot, commenced
on the 19th, and continued at intervals till the evening of
the 22nd, Sunday, but without any serious effect. Neisse
would not yield, and the siege was converted into a block-
ade like those of Glogau and Brieg. General Browne hung
watching about the mountains, but was driven back by
Schwerin as soon as the bombardment ceased, and, shortly
afterwards, was supervseded by General Neipperg. The
Prussian army scattered into winter quarters, only main-
taining the three blockades ; and Frederick, who had shown
no special generalship yet, went back to Berlin. In the
seven weeks or so which were spent in over-running Silesia,
a change had come over his spirit, as shown in his corre-
spondence. He had begun by talking much of military
glory, but from this time forth care sat behind him wher-
ever he went. Silesia was his, except the fortresses, but
without glory, and a storm was brewing in Europe, which
might perhaps, sweep him away in its course. He spent
three weeks in Berlin, and returned to his army full of
grave thoughts. For he saw that all Europe was aroused,
and that dangerous enmities to himself had awoke. True,
his envoy to Russia had been successful, and returned with
a treaty of friendship in his pocket ; but Austria refused
altogether to come to any terms of compromise, and began
to arm. His two near neighbours, George of Hanover
(George TI., of England) and the Elector of Saxony, who
was also King of Poland, were determined to support
Austria and the Pragmatic Sanction, and Frederick, suc-
cessful in Silesia, had reason to fear for his safety at home.
He left the old Prince of Anhalt Dessau to take certain
measures which we shall hear of later, and passed again to
Silesia on the 19th of February.

TREATY TO PARTITION PRUSSIA. 59

27th Feb. -5th Mar. 1741.

By this time Austri,a had begun to work with her ir-
regular troops, masking graver designs in rear, and incur-
sions into Silesia began to be made by Hungarian hussars.
On the 27th of February, Frederick, still young in war, set
out to visit two of the Prussian posts in the head waters of
the Neisse river, due west of the besieged town. The
hussars heard daily of his movements, and determined to
capture him if possible. Visiting Silberberg first, he next
went to Wartha, where, fortunately for him, he halted to
dine, sending forward a major with a squadron of Schulen-
burg dragoons. The hussars, thinking that Frederick was
with this party, attacked it from ambush, and defeated it
with loss, then made off, as their wont was, leaving the way
clear for the king, who thus by good luck escaped the
results of his carelessness. At this time he seems to have
fallen into a fault common among good soldiers. He often
did himself what he should have left to subordinates. The
excuse for him and for others, who to this day fall into the
same error, is that he was learning his work, and was keen
in studying every trifling detail. There was enough for
Frederick to attend to in the keeping of the blockade, for
on the 5th of March an Austrian detachment, 300 foot and
300 horse, succeeded in eluding his vigilance, and slipped
into Neisse as a reinforcement of the garrison. The king
for his part was strengthening his army by enlistments in
Silesia, 600 men' coming from Breslau alone in February
and March.

At the beginning of March startling news reached
Frederick. The draft of a treaty to partition Prussia
was lying at St. Petersburg, and only awaiting the signa-
tures of England, Russia, and Saxony. It is clear that the
English nation would have acted more wisely if it had
buttoned its pockets and rested quietly in an observant

to FREDERICK THE GREAT.

March-2nd April 1741.

posture. But England was at that time hampered by
Hanover, that very inconvenient appendage of her royal
house. George II. cared more for Hanover than for Eng-
land, and was terribly anxious lest the unimportant German
state should be eaten up by Frederick, who, however, had
quite enough on his hands without meddling with Hanover.
So then Russia, after signing a treaty of friendship with
Prussia, was intriguing behind her back against her very
life. Check to the king. Frederick's counter move was
to direct the elder Prince Leopold of Dessau to place some
36,000 Prussian soldiers in camp at Gbttin, near Magde-
burg, ostensibly for purposes of manoeuvre. This force was
in a position to march at a moment's notice, either against
Saxony or Hanover. The would-be allies who had dreamed
of partitioning Prussia were rudely awakened, and no more
was heard of the idea for a long time to come. The camp
began to be formed on the 2nd of April.

About the same time as the news of the proposed
partition reached Frederick, early in March, he heard also
that Austria, having found money at last, probably from
England, was sending General Neipperg through Moravia
with a considerable force to attack Frederick in Silesia.
It was not known exactly where Neipperg was, but the
king, anxious to concentrate his forces, pressed the younger
Leopold to complete the capture of Glogau, which was
accordingly stormed during the night of the 8th-9th of
March. The action was important as showing the excellent
discipline of the Prussian troops, the clockwork regularity
of design and movements, and the steady courage of the
men. The Austrian garrison was about 1,000 strong, but
so well was the operation conducted that the Prussians
only lost fifty-eight men killed and wounded. There was no
plundering. The feat attracted much notice in Europe,

NEIPPERG ADVANCING, 61

2nd April 1741.

and greatly raised the credit of the Prussian army. The
king was quick with praise and prize-money ; he gave
Prince Leopold about £2,000., and to the soldiers gifts
rising from about IO5. to £20. Prince Leopold quickly
joined the king at Schweidnitz, helping to threaten Neisse
and resist Neipperg if he should advance through the
mountains.

Neipperg had now reached Olmiitz, and detached General
Lentulus with a corps to occupy the mountain gorges in
the principality of Glatz ; to cover Bohemia, and be ready
to assist in the operations upon the Neisse river. Frede-
rick drew in many of his posts and concentrated, very
rightly, though against the advice of Schwerin. The
Austrian movements were concealed by a veil of irregular
cavalry, which annoyed the Prussian outposts. Towards
the close of March, Neipperg began his movement over the
mountains to the relief of Neisse. The king wished
Schwerin to come in from Jagerndorf, where he was
posted, but, over-persuaded by him, reinforced him, and
himself accompanied the reinforcing detachment. He
was at Jagerndorf on the 2nd of April, in an open town,
with only some three or four thousand men, utterly un-
conscious of Neipperg's movements, when some Austrian
deserters came in and reported that the whole Austrian
army was within a few miles. It was actually at
Freudenthal, some fifteen miles in a south-westerly direc-
tion, marching upon Neisse, but Neipperg was as ignorant
of Frederick's place as Frederick of his. He lost his
opportunity, and his slow creeping movements enabled the
king to draw in the detachments to Jagerndorf, to send
orders to Holstein-Beck at Frankenstein, and to Kalkstein
at Grotkau, that they should unite and join him at
Steinau, twenty miles east of Neisse, crossing the river

62 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

5tb-10th April 1741.

by a temporary bridge at Sorgau, which is about twelve
miles north by west of Steinau. Kalkstein joined accord-
ingly with 10,000 men. Holstein-Beck did not, but took
no notice of the Austrian movements, though Lentulus
muat have passed very near him. On the 5th head-
quarters were at Steinau, and Frederick heard that both
Neipperg and Lentulus were at Neisse — actually nearer
to Breslau than he himself was. On the 6th he moved
northwards to Friedland, intending to work round Neip-
perg's flank and get between him and Ohlau, where the
great Prussian siege park was. His intention was to
cross the bridge at Sorgau, but the Austrian cavalry
had occupied the far end of it, and, after trying the
passage, the king found himself baJSed. He moved down
the river, and crossed on the 8th at Lbwen and Michelau.
Nothing yet was heard of Holstein-Beck. The same day
the king moved towards Grotkau, heard that the Aus-
trians had taken it, marched about seven miles on the
road from Lowen to Ohlau, and bivouacked at Pogarell, a
small village, during a snowstorm. The force which had
been blockading Brieg also joined him. His intention
was to attack Neipperg next day, and fight his first great
battle, upon which would hang such issues for his kingdom
and himself as few young men of twenty nine years old
had ever encountered. That night his fevered brain was
unvisited by sleep.

Next day (Sunday) there was wild weather. Frederick
made all his dispositions for a battle, but did not move, as
nothing could be seen twenty paces distant for the drifting
snow. Neipperg, however, made a short march as far as
Mollwitz, and was thus between the Prussians and Ohlau.
Nothing can be a better proof of the crude state of warfare
at that time than the fact that the two armies knew

BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ, 63

loth April 1741.

nothing of each other's position, though the Austrian
and Prussian head-quarters were only seven miles apart.
Neipperg even assigned the mdrrow as a day of rest for
his troops ; hut there was to be no rest for him. Next
day, 10th of April, the king's army, which had now but
one day's provisions, marched towards Mollwitz in four
columns, two on each side of the high road, struggling
along through the snow. Frederick heard of the Austrian
position from a peasant. Neipperg knew nothing of the
king's advance till detachments of Austrian and Prussian
cavalry encountered two miles from Mollwitz. Here was
a chance for a surprise which a little later Frederick would
not have missed, but he had not yet drawn himself out of
the dull style of war usual in that age. He was still
wrapped in the nieshes of the parade-ground and barrack,
square, and neither attempted a surprise nor strove to gain
any tactical advantage by manoeuvre. Instead of this he
solemnly and slowly deployed into two lines, each three
deep, and advanced on Mollwitz with bands playing and
colours flying, giving time to Neipperg to get himself into
'battle trim. Probably in this his first battle he acted
under advice from Schwerin.

Neipperg was at dinner, but gave orders at once to
Komer, who commanded his horse, to do what he could to
delay the Prussians, who were effecting their deployment
about a mile from Mollwitz. His dispositions, like those
of Frederick, were to place the army in two parallel lines.
The total strength of each army was about the same,
namely, 20,000 men ; but Neipperg had about 8,600 cavalry
of good quality, Frederick only about 4,000 of inferior
stamp. On the other hand, the king had sixty guns, which
he advanced well in front of his army, while Neipperg had
only eighteen. And now mark the difficulties inherent in

64 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1741.

these parade battles. For all the drill which the Prussians
had absorbed, they blundered in their movement on the right.
Schulenburg, who commanded the cavalry, an oflScer of
pipeclay and parade, muddled his deployment. His right
ought to have rested on the village of Hermsdorf, his left
to have touched the right of the infantry, whereas he fell
short of reaching Hermsdorf, and crowded upon the infantry,
so that there was no room for three battalions, which had
to drop back at right-angles to the Prussian line, en potence
as it is called in military phrase. We shall see afterwards
that the blunder was lucky, but it was none the less a
blunder. Following the example of Gustavus Adolphus
at Liitzen, Frederick mixed two battalions of grenadiers
with his cavalry, which was chiefly on the right, but partly
on the left, of his army, interspersing the foot soldiers
between the squadrons. The left of the Prussian lines
rested on the boggy brook of Laugwitz. The infantry, in
two lines, occupied the whole of the centre with the
artillery in front of them. Neipperg was getting his army
into, position in front of Mollwitz, also in two lines, with
its right on the Laugwitz stream, its left on the village
of Griiningen.

Romer, the commander of the Austrian cavalry, arrived
first on the ground. Seeing the Prussian right in difficul-
ties, and being himself in much suffering from the fire of
the Prussian artillery, which opened on the Austrian left
at two o'clock, he led thirty squadrons at once to the attack
of Schulenburg, whom he caught endeavouring to perfect
his parade line by extending to the right in column. The
Austrians were thirty squadrons, the Prussians ten ; and
Schulenburg, with his pipeclay and his wheelings, was
dashed into wild ruin, sweeping away Frederick himself,
who had joined this part of the army. Schulenburg fell

BA TTLE OF MOLL WITZ. G5

1741.

dead. The Austrian cavalry passed in front and rear of
the first infantry line; but the steady discipline of the
Prussian foot soldiers, and the strengthening of the flank
by the three battalions en 'potence, saved the army. The
quick fire of the Prussians, due partly to the iron ramrods
and partly to much practice, repulsed the Austrian cavalry,
who, however, carried off nine of the Prussian guns. Again
and again did Pomer charge the Prussian line, but could
make no impression upon it. He even swept round to the
rear of the second line and charged them, but Prince
Leopold, who commanded it, faced the men to the rear and
repulsed the charge. Pbmer himself was killed. The
grenadier battalions which had been mixed with the cavalry
stood their ground, and even succeeded in attaching them-
selves to the main line of the infantry amid the whirl
and hurry of the horse. This instance of perfect discipline
shows very clearly the excellent quality of Frederick's
infantry as bequeathed to him by his father. Saving his
first terrible blunder at being surprised, Neipperg seems to
have acted vigorously. He supported Pomer with cavalry
from his right wing, and endeavoured to improve the advan-
tage gained by the cavalry by pushing forward an infantry
attack under Goldlein. It was an antique style of fighting,
good enough according to the spirit of the day ; but the
Austrian infantry could not advance under the terrible fire
of the Prussian artillery and infantry.

The troops fell back, and placing a line of knapsacks for
defence, knelt and fired during the afternoon, gradually,
however, melting and streaming back. Seeing this, Schwerin,
for Frederick was not now present, advanced his whole line,
solid as a wall, with military music and display of banners.
The demonstration was enough. Neipperg saw that he had
lost control over his troops, and gave the order to retreat. The

6G FREDERICK THE GREAT.

irn.
sun had just gone down, and tlie Prussians, much hampered
in those days by desire of keeping their ranks trim, did not
pursue beyond the village of Laugwitz. The Austrians
retreated upon Neisse, passing next day in confusion within
two miles of the Duke of Hoist ein, who made no attempt
whatever to destroy them. The Austrian loss in killed,
wounded, and missing was rather less than the Prussian —
4,400 against 4,613, but they lost nine out of thoir eighteen
guns, besides eight of the nine Prussian pieces which
they had captured.

But where was Frederick during the latter part of the
battle % When the charge of the Austrian cavalry appeared
so successful as to threaten the life of the army, Schwerin,
doubtless uneasy at the condition of events, pressed the
king to retire. He, affected by the wild rout of the cavalry,
and unnerved by want of sleep for two nights, followed his
general's advice and rode through the night. He endea-
voured to cross the Oder at Oppeln, but was fired at there
by a party of Austrian hussars, who had taken possession
of the town ; thence back to Lowen, where he heard that
Mollwitz was a victory, not a defeat, and was again at that
place before night. He had not slept for three nights, and
had passed through such a turmoil of mind as was perhaps
only equalled in his life when he saw poor Katte led out
to execution, not knowing but that his own turn might
speedily come.

The philosopher Maupertuis, whom Frederick had at-
tracted to his court, was captured by the Austrians, and
carried to Yienna. His wish to see a battle led him into
a somewhat ridiculous posture. But the same desire has
been felt by other great men. It wdll be long ere man
ceases to be a fighting animal.

I have been thus particular in describing the battle of

ZIETHEN'S FIRST EXPLOIT. 67

1741.

Mollwitz and the manoeuvres which led to it, because the
genius of Frederick the Great as a soldier cannot be appre-
ciated without first understanding the kind of strategy
and tactics which prevailed before he placed upon them the
mark of his spirit. The designs of campaigns were usually
feeble, and directed to no definite end. The art of rapid
marching was almost extinct ; the intelligent watch of an
enemy's movement, which every cadet of to-day under-
stands to be so necessary, would then have been considered
extraordinary. On the field of battle the two opposing
armies drew themselves up and fired and charged till one
of them had had enough of it and retired, usually more or
less unmolested by the victor. Brieg was left untouched till
the 26th, sixteen days after the battle. It yielded on the
4th of May, after a heavy bombardment, without assault.
The king's army lay inactive for three weeks, in order to
allow time to fill up the trenches and revictual the place.
Neipperg remained in camp about Neisse, and during the
rest of this campaign a series of small outpost and cavalry
affairs occurred between his troops and the Prussians,
in which the name of the future light cavalry leader,
Ziethen, first came into the ears of men. He was made
lieutenant-colonel for one of his exploits, being then forty-
two years old — a "big-headed, thick-lipped, decidedly ugly
little man." ^

^ Carlyle's Frederick the Great.

CHAPTER YI.

SILESIA IS WON. — MARIA THERESA ROUSES HUNGARY. — FRENCH

INTERFERENCE. BATTLE OF CHOTUSITZ. PEACE OP

BRESLAU.

A.D. 1741—1742.

loth April 1741.

The opening of the trenches at Brieg was signalised by
the presence of the Comte de Belle-Isle of France, grandson
of the famous Fouquet, whose splendour of living cost him
ruin and loss of liberty in the early days of Louis XIV.
Comte Belle-Isle was fifty-six years old, a clever, grandiose,
intriguing soldier and diplomatist, worthy to carry out
the meddling designs of Louis XV., in opposition to the
cautious counsels of the aged Fleury. He had set out
from France at the end of March, on a journey which had
for its object to upset the Pragmatic Sanction, though France,
among other powers, had guaranteed it ; and to snatch
from the House of Austria the Kaisership, which had, from
the habit of many years, become, as it were, vested in the
Hapsburg family. Though France could not possibly
claim the imperial crown for herself, Belle-Isle had
determined that it should grace the brows of a German
prince, who would be the nominee and the servant of
France. He visited the various German courts, and did

DIPLOMACIES. 69

loth April-5th June 1741.

in time succeed by diplomatic arts * in causing them all to
repudiate the Pragmatic Sanction. Finally, he drew them
into an arrangement by whiph Karl Albert of Bavaria
was to be elected Kaiser, Frederick to be confirmed in the
possession of Silesia, the King of Poland, who was also
Elector of Saxony, to take Moravia and part of Bohemia,
resigning to the Palatine Elector his claims upon Berg
and Jiilich. Under pretence of guarding the freedom of
election, France was to send two armies of 40,000 each,
with reserves, across the Upper and Lower Rhine. She
did actually send these two armies in August. The upper
army, which was eventually to be commanded by Belle-
Isle, crossed by Strasburg, and was destined to support
Karl Albert in attacking Austria along the line of the
Danube. The lower army crossed near Diisseldorf under
Maillebois, with the object of holding in check the Dutch
and the English — or rather the Hanoverians with English
help ; for at this time there had come upon the English also
a burning desire to meddle in business which by no means
concerned them.

It would seem that Belle-Isle did little with Frederick,
but the regular French ambassador, Valori, remained at his
camp in a perpetual, though covert, struggle with the
English ambassador, Hyndford. The oft'er of France was
to guarantee Silesia to the king, but one day Yalori let fall
a letter which he had received from home, telling him by
no means to allow Frederick to have Glatz county,
though that key of Bohemia was one of the points on
which he most strongly insisted. The king put his foot
on the letter, and, when Valori was dismissed, picked
it up and read it. Here then was one power clearly try-
ing to cheat him. On the other hand, England, through
1 Bribery was freely employed. See Frederic II, et Marie T/Urise.

70 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

loth April-5th June 1741.

Hyndford, was protesting friendship and goodwill, while actu- ,
ally voting supplies for the Austrian court. Hyndford was
incessant in his pressure upon Frederick to come to terms
with Austria, and the king was quite willing, but only on
his own terms, which were gradually raised as he perceived
himself more and more to be master of the situation. At first
England offered him £200,000 to quit Silesia. "When George
II. tried pressure of another kind, and persuaded the Dutch
to join him in calling upon the King of Prussia to retire
from Silesia as a step to negotiations for peace with Austria,
Frederick had wind of the Joint Kesolution before it was
presented, and, on the 5th of June, signed a contingent
treaty with France, not agreeing to all the grand schemes
of Belle-Isle, but only to that part of them which would
strengthen his own hands by combining France and
Bavaria in operations against Austria upon the Danube.
But the English diplomatists were still indefatigable in
endeavouring to detach Frederick from the combination
against Austria. Hyndford at Strehlen, and Eobinson at
Vienna, were immensely active in trying to strengthen
Austria no"^j just as active as English diplomatists had
been a few short years before in trying to weaken her.
And they did, in fact, succeed at last in bringing about an
arrangement.

All men of heart must sympathise with the high-
spirited young Queen Maria Theresa, whose husband,
Francis of Tuscany, was the Austrian candidate for the
imperial crown. It was not her fault that the Hohen-
zollerns had been cheated out of Silesia, nor had her voice
been heard when her father promised JUlich and Berg to
Frederick William and to the Elector Palatine at the same
time. A woman, young, beautiful, high-souled, and im-
petuous, it must have appeared to her that the whole of

OCCUPA TION OF BRESLA U. 71

6th June-lOth Aug. 1741.

Europe, except England and the Dutch, were acting vilely
by her, and that Frederick's attack on Silesia was the deed
of a robber and common enemy of mankind. Arch-
Duchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, she was
passionately determined to preserve the integrity of her
dominions if she could. She had been received with
acclamations by her Hungarian subjects, when, at the
ceremony of her coronation, she, a bright young queen,
and a mother of three months' standing, galloped to the
top of the Konigsberg, and with flashing sabre cut de-
fiantly towards the four quarters of the world. Since then
there had been differences with the Hungarian Diet ; but
she had all the elasticity and faith of youth, and could not
believe but that all would go well. It was a hard task for
her to compromise with Frederick, nor could the solicita-
tions of the English ambassador induce her to do so till she
had delivered one more stroke for Silesia.

Neipperg, therefore, marched from Neisse in the first week
of August, about thirty miles westward along the river
Neisse, then crossed it, intending by forced marches to
surprise and seize Breslau. But Frederick's information
was good,, and on the 10th of August he caused Schwerin
to occupy that town, free no longer, with 8,000 men.
Keipperg fell back, and the king at last began to manoeuvre
against his enemy's communications, as he ought to have
done long ago if he wished to drive him from the intended
camp near ISTeisse. There is nothing worth relating in these
movements, which were cut short by diplomatic action.
Neipperg's descent upon Breslau having failed, and the two
French armies actually crossing the Ehine in August, the
unfortunate Maria Theresa yielded at last, and consented to
a secret arrangement by which Neipperg was to be allowed
to retire in safety, being much needed nearer home. Neisse

72 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

lOth Aug. -I4th Sept. 1741.

was to be given up to Frederick after a sham siege, and
Silesia was to be ceded to the King of Prussia, whose
army, instead of acting against Austria, would then go
into winter quarters. But Frederick attached to this secret
treaty one condition, that if it should be divulged through
fault of the Austrian court, it was not to be considered
binding, and he should be at liberty to repudiate it. The
Austrian court did not keep the secret, and all the facts
were blazoned abroad ; upon which, as we shall see hereafter,
^Frederick did repudiate it. It is impossible to defend these
transactions from the point of view of morality, or even of
common honesty, but it is only fair to Frederick to
remember that the whole arrangement was made through
the medium of England, whose ambassadors were from
first to last busy in the transaction. The fact is that
every court was intriguing and deceiving, and the only
difference was that Frederick, by his energetic action, had
placed himself in a commanding position. They were all
trying to cheat him, and he cheated them. To use a
familiar illustration they treated the young king like the
Heathen Chinee in the American story, and hardly had the
right to complain when he was discovered to have the
bower ace up his sleeve.^

On the 14th of September, Karl Albert, with a Bavarian
army, strengthened by two divisions, 15,000 men, of the
French upper army, his total force being about 40,000 men,
appeared before Linz, and occupied that city. Saxony,
anxious to secure her share of the spoil, signed a treaty

1 The Due de BrogUe is highly indignant with Frederick's actions
at this time, mainly because they prevented France from becoming
mistress of Europe. But his own book shows how vilely France be-
haved on all sides. It was, as the Duke confesses,
Frederick's were keener than Fleury's or Belle-Isle's.

MARIA THERESA AND HUNGARY. 73

19th-21st Sept. 1741.

with France and Bavaria on the 19th. She was capable of
putting about 20,000 men in the field. Vienna was in
great terror. Bavaria was advancing towards her with
40,000 men, and all Europe seemed to have determined
upon the downfall of Austria. General Khevenhiiller, who
was in command of the Austrian garrison, had but a poor
6,000 men to defend the place. He showed great energy
and considerable ability in preparing the town to resist the
attack. Maria Theresa was at Presburg, where she had
summoned the Hungarian magnates to her palace on the
11th. She told them that they were her only allies in the
world, and that she threw herself on their generosity. The
rude but chivalrous Magyars were touched, and thereupon
voted an " insurrection," that is, a general armament of the
country in her favour, and elected her husband co-regent
of the kingdom. He arrived on the 20th ; the ceremony
of his investiture took place on the 21st, and the charming
young mother then and there struck a chord of sympathy,
which not only thrilled the hearts of the Hungarians, but
vibrated throughout the whole of Europe. While the
Magyars were swearing, she had her lusty boy held up to
them in the arms of an attendant ; her husband shouted,
" Life and blood for our queen and kingdom," and the wild
chiefs repeated the sentiment with cheers, being touched to
the heart with the beauty, courage, and weakness of the
young queen and mother. The Hungarian militia, a very
ancient institution, were called out and furnished, through-
out the wars which ensued, a large- number of fight troops,
very similar in nature and habits of fighting to the
Cossacks before they were brought into regular regiments
within the last few years. This was the turning point of
Maria Theresa's fortunes. At the moment she had almost
reason to despair, and nothing could have saved her, if, as

74 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

21st Sept. -24th Oct. 1741

Frederick advised, the Bavarian army had inarched upon
Vienna. But Karl Albert, probably influenced by the
French, whose policy would have been endangered if
Austria had been completely crushed, remained inactive at
Linz, only pushing detachments forward to threaten Vienna
from a distance of forty miles. His delay gave time for
the Austrians to recruit Khevenhliller's force, and to draw
in some of their Italian garrisons to Vienna. On the 16th
of October, in accordance with the secret treaty, Neipperg
retired unmolested from Silesia, and in three weeks was at
Frating, west of Znaim, in the south-west of Moravia,
where he awaited orders from Vienna, ready to descend on
the flank of any force moving from Linz to the Austrian
capital. On the 21st of October, a month after Maria
Theresa's successful appeal to the manhood of the Hun-
garians, Neisse capitulated after a sham siege but very real
bombardment, and Frederick returned to Berlin, where he
arrived on the 11th of November, having already heard
that the Austrian court had divulged the secret of the
treaty, and that he was once more free to act as his interests
might dictate.

On the 24th of October, the Bavarian force which was
threatening Vienna from Mautern, instead of attacking that
city, marched northwards towards Prague. The French
advanced divisions, which were further back, moved in the
same direction under Count Maurice de Saxe, one of the 354
sons of King August the Strong. We shall hear more of
Maurice de Saxe hereafter. He was then forty years old,
a clever, reckless soldier, devoid of morality and good faith.
Among the utterly untrustworthy, famous men of his time,
he was one of those to be trusted least ; but such as he stood
he was the life of this expedition. Further back again from
Donauworth, came the main body of the French upper

ALL MOVE TOWARDS PRAGUE. 75

24th Oct.-26th Nov. 1741.

army under General Polastron. All these forces marched in
a northerly direction upon Prague, leaving a garrison
detachment of about 10,000 French and Bavarians, under
the Comte de Segur, to garrison .Linz and observe Vienna.
From the north came down towards Prague the whole of
the Saxon army, 21,000 strong. The combined French-
Bavarian-Saxon army was some 60,000 strong, and crept
slowly, as was the habit of the time, towards the doomed
city with its garrison of 3,000 under General Ogilvy. The
concentration took place between the 19 th and 21st of
November, four weeks from the time of starting. The
longest distance marched was about 260 miles, or at the
rate of only nine miles per day.

It is difficult to conceive worse strategy than this.
Instead of striking at the enemy's capital, almost within
grasp, the whole effort is concentrated upon capturing an
unimportant town in Bohemia, which must have fallen
afterwards. Munich, the capital of Bavaria, was left
insufficiently protected, and a weak force remained at Linz
and thereabouts, offering a tempting morsel for Khevenhiiller
to swallow when he was strong enough.

About the same time as the French and Bavarians
moved, Maria Theresa's husband, the Grand Duke Franz,
marched with about 30,000 men also for Prague, or at
any rate to fight the enemy, picked up Neipperg at
Frating on the 7th of November, and Lobkowitz at Neuhaus
in Bohemia, so that he was at that time actually stronger
than the allies. But like them he lingered on the way, and
only arrived in the neighbourhood of Prague on the 26th,
in time to learn that, the night before, the town had been
stormed by a threefold attack, and that Ogilvy and his
garrison were pi'isoners. Upon this the Grand Duke Franz
fell back into the broken and boggy country near Budweis.

76 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

19th Dec. 1741-18th Jan. 1742.

Belle-Isle was to have commanded the French army which
attacked Prague ; but, when the time drew near, he was
sick of rheumatic fever, and Field Marshal Broglio was
sent from France to take his place. He arrived at Prague
about Christmas time ; Karl Albert having started from
Munich on the 19th of December. The Grand Duke Franz
also left his army and went southwards towards Vienna.

Meanwhile Frederick holding himself free from the secret
treaty with Vienna because it had been divulged, drew
closer the bonds of his alliance with France and Bavaria,
signing on the 4th of November the ratification of a definite
contract with the allies. On the 8th he signed a separate
treaty with Saxony, arranging the boundary between Silesia
and the Moravian-Bohemian country, now supposed to be
among the dominions of the King of Poland, who called
himself also King of Moravia. Frederick had in his mind
at this time the design of an expedition which might
perhaps undo the mischief wrought by the French and
Bavarians when they quited the Danube for Bohemia. His
idea was to unite with the French and Saxons and push
downwards through Moravia in support of the Comte da
Segur, and perhaps arrive even at Vienna itself. It was
indeed time to do something, for Khevenhiiller was assem-
bling a formidable Austrian force. On the 31st of December
Khevenhiiller issued from Vienna with 15,000 men, sending
General Biirenklau with 10,000 through the Tyrol by
Berchtesgarten to attack Munich itself, now destitute of
any proper force to defend it.

Though Frederick was at this period still inexperienced
in war, and therefore not to be counted as a model for
imitation, we begin to see in him that burning energy and
force of character which afterwards made him the first
leader of his time. On the 18th of January he left Berlin

FREDERICK AT GLATZ. 77

Jan. 1742.

for Dresden, where, he remained twenty-four hours, succeed-
ing during that short period in persuading the unwilling
Saxon court and generals to fall into his scheme. Thence
in that wild winter weather he rushed into Bohemia, visiting
the Prussian outposts there, and arrived at Glatz on the
24th of January, having travelled about 700 miles, and done
much important business in one week. Another mark of
his peculiar spirit also presents itself at this time. He had
sent in December the younger Prince Leopold to occupy
Glatz, and Schwerin to capture Olmiitz. Both operations
were performed with ease and success, the Austrian forces
being weak. In the extremity of danger to Glatz, the
wife of the commandant vowed a new robe and decorations
to an image of the Virgin Mary there, if only by her aid
Glatz might succeed in repulsing the invaders. We have
seen that the town was not so fortunate, but when Frederick
appeared there he said with mixed good nature and con-
tempt for the forms of religion which had been forced down
his throat as a youth, " Never mind, the Virgin shall have
her new coat all the same," and he did accordingly supply
her with one at his expense.

The day of Frederick's arrival at Glatz, 24th of January
1742, was memorable for two other occurrences of high
fame, the one practical, the other empty of all power in the
world. The first was the capture of Linz, and of Segur's
10,000 men by Khevenhiiller. The commander and gar-
rison were suffered to retire on promise that they would
not serve against Austria for a year to come ; the second
was the election of Karl Albert of Bavaria to be Kaiser of
Holy Beich. Belle-Isle's schemes had arrived at their
fulfilment, with what value or want of value to France and
Europe we shall presently see.

It would be vain and wearisome to detail the episodes in

78 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

5th reb.-5tli April 1742.

the short campaign which followed. Frederick made his
rendezvous at Wirchau on the 5th of February, and did push
Schwerin forward with an advance guard of about 5,000
men as far as Stein, some forty or more miles short of
Vienna. The cavalry under Ziethen even pushed within
twenty miles of the capital. But Frederick could not drag
his allies with him. The French contingent,^ about 5,000
men, gave up the game altogether, and the Saxons could
not be got to stir out of Moravia. There was a useless
siege of Brunn which failed entirely for want of siege
artillery, which the so-called King of Moravia refused to
send, saying he could not afford it, though he had just spent
an immense sum of money upon a single green diamond to
embellish his vaults at Dresden. Early in March the
effects of the Hungarian " insurrection " began to appear
in the shape of clouds of irregulars who swept over the
Carpathians, threatening Moravia and even Silesia.

Worse news soon came to Frederick. By the irony of
fate, on the very day, 12th of February, 1742, when Karl
Albert, ill with gout and gravel was being crowned Emperor
at Frankfurt, the wild irregulars of Biirenklau's force oc-
cupied Munich under their cruel leader Mentzel, and on the
25th of February it was decided at Vienna to push forward
a strong army against the allies. As neither the French
nor the Saxons would fulfil their engagements, Frederick
relinquished his purpose, and was back at Wirchau on the
5th of April, exactly two months after he had started on this
futile campaign. But he had in the meantime sent orders
home that the elder Prince Leopold should join him with
20,000 men, which accordingly Leopold did later, and was
sent with part of them to drive back the Hungarian

^ The Due de Broglie defends his ancestor, but only makes it clearer
that Broglio deliberately spoiled this design of Frederick.

PRINCE CHARLES ADVANCES. 79

April-llth May 1742.

irregulars in the direction of Troppau-Jablunka, while the
rest of them should reinforce the king and the younger
Leopold, whose forces were to go into cantonments at
Chrudim and its neighbourhood. Prince Dietrich, of Anhalt,
another son of old Leopold, was left at Olmiitz with a small
force to waste the country, sweep in all possible provisions,
and join his father. He carried out the service in a
masterly manner worthy of the stock which had invented
most of the drills of Frederick William's army, and intro-
duced the iron ramrods.

Frederick was greatly irritated at the results of this
short campaign, and the untrustworthiness of his allies.
Writing of it afterwards he said that his want of success
was due to the fact that the French acted like fools, and
the Saxons like traitors.

He spoke of winter campaigns generally with aversion,
as likely to ruin the best army, and defended himself for
having undertaken them on this and other occasions, by
saying that each one in which he had engaged was entered
upon from necessity, and not from choice. Frederick was
now growing in self-confidence, and did not hesitate to pull
up sharply old Leopold when he ventured to stray from the
orders given him, at which naturally enough the old warrior
took some offence, but was even more strict in the per-
formance of his duty Schwerin on the contrary, who had
been recalled from the front, was offended at the preference
given to old Leopold for the Troppau-Jablunka expedition,
and retired in dudgeon to Berlin.

On the 11th of May Frederick found that Prince Charles'b
army,^ about 30,000 strong, was advancing upon him, pro-
bably with the intention of stealing round his right flank,

^ Prince Charles of Loraine had now taken command of the Austrian
army, and held it for a long time.

80 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

May 1742.

cutting him off from communication with his allies at
Prague, and capturing his magazines, which were on the
other side of the Elbe at Koniggriitz, Nimburg, Podie-
brad, and Pardubitz. The concentration of his troops on
Chrudin was effected on the 13th, and he then commanded
an army about 28,000 men strong. The king sent to
Broglio for reinforcements, which the old marshal, who
was more than half-paralysed, refused, trembling lest the
attack should be directed against him instead of Frederick.
On the 15th all indications showed that the Austrians would
turn the king's right, and he accordingly marched with a
strong advanced guard of cavalry and gi'enadiers towards
Kuttenberg, on the road to Prague, leaving orders with the
younger Leopold to follow him next day, as soon as bread
had arrived from Kbniggratz. The bread did not come,
but Leopold was wise enough to march without it, carrying
meal instead. Leopold did well in advancing, for although
he did not know it, the Austrian advanced guard had been
at Chotieborz on the morning of the 15 th, and by the
direction of its march, would come into collision with the
king. The want of a proper intelligence department in the
armies in those days is very apparent. Here were two
considerable armies manoeuvring with deadly purpose,
within fifteen miles of each other, yet neither knowing
the whereabouts of the other.

On the night of the 15th Frederick encamped at Podhorzan
and saw Prince Karl's advanced guard at E-onnow, within
three or four miles. Next day Frederick pushed on to
Kuttenberg, sending orders to Leopold to march to Czaslau.
But Leopold now found himself in presence of the Austrian
main force, and only reached Chotusitz with great difficulty
in the first half of the night. He sent no less than four
messengers to the king, of whom only one arrived (a good

BATTLE OF CHOTUSITZ. 81

ITth May-llih June 1742.

lesson here) saying that he expected to be attacked next
morning, and desired instructions and reinforcements. At
two or three in the morning, the answer came back, order-
ing him to take up a position near Chotusitz, and that the
king would join him at seven o'clock, bringing bread with
him.

In the grey of the morning, the 17th of May, 1742,
Leopold, in accordance with Frederick's instructions, drew
up his forces on the flat ground about Chotusitz. His main
cavalry force, under Buddenbrock, was on the right, rest-
ing its right flank, which was a little advanced, against a
small tract of bog and ponds. His left, also supported by
cavalry, extended westward of Chotusitz (which he held as
his centre) and beyond the Brtlinka brook, after which
it ended in the air, having been intended to reach a
park wall further on the left, but falling short of it. The
Austrians had been marching in the night with the intention
of making a night attack, but had failed to arrive in time.
Their advance was made in two lines, like the formation of
the defending army, with cavalry on both wings. Prince
Charles was, as we have seen, rather superior in force to
Frederick's power, even when the king joined Leopold, and
placed his reinforcements in the second line between seven
and eight o'clock. Jomini gives the relative forces as —
Austrians, 30,000 ; Frederick, about 24,000 ; but Carlyle,
who is very careful as to details, counts the Prussians as
28,000. The Austrian centre was divided by the Brtlinka
brook, so that their left wing was over-lapped by Frederick's
right, that is, by Buddenbrock' s cavalry, while the Austrian
right extended further east than the left of the Prussians.
Immediately upon Frederick's arrival, his artillery of the
right wing, always well in front of the infantry, opened fire
upon the cavalry of the Austrian left ; and Buddenbrock,

6

"^ " 82 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

17th May-llth June 1742.

who had hitherto been concealed by a slight elevation, was
ordered to launch his cavalry against that of the enemy.
Bredow led the charge, which struck fiercely on the Aus-
trian flank, driving in the first line of the southern horse-
men. But now a stroke of ill fortune befell the Prussians.
As, in the disorder which always follows a cavalry charge,
they came upon the second line of the Austrians, and
were checked by it ; the king's advance guard, under
Bothenburg, pressed on to support them, having in front
of it a regiment of hussars in green uniform. The dress
was new to the eyes of some of the Prussian cavalry, who
raised a cry of, '^ The enemy is in rear of us ! " Panic then
prevailed, and Buddenbrock's cavalry only rallied behind
the infantry of the second line. Bothenbui'g, however,
restored the fortune in this part of the field, by repelling
the pursuing Austrian cavalry, and pushing on even to the
flank of the enemy's infantry. There was now much con-
fusion here, neither side prevailing for a time. Further
eastward the Austrians were successful. The left of the
Prussians had become over-stretched in the attempt to find
a rest for the flank, so that Chotusitz was weakly defended
by only half a regiment. The cavalry of that wing could
not act with effect in the broken ground, and were them-
selves outflanked by the Austrian cavalry. The Austrian
infantry captured Chotusitz partially, the Prussian still
holding to its northern extremity, and quelling most gallant
charges of the enemy by their steadiness and rapidity of
fire. But, instead of charging the Prussian flank or rear,
the Austrian cavalry galloped off to take and plunder the
Prussian camp. Thus, then, to westward, the fight was
hanging in suspense : to eastward the Austrian right wing
had gained some advantage, but had lost its cavalry by
yielding to the temptation so dear to holiday tacticians of

AUSTRIA MAKES PEACE. 83

17th May-llth June 1742.

entering the enemy's camp. Chotusitz was on fire, and in-
terposed with its torrid heat between the two wings of the
Austrian army. Arguing after the event, it is always easy
for library students to see what ought to have been done ;
but it is only the true general who can so read the features
of a battle during the midst of the turmoil as to see clearly
when and how an opportunity has arisen. In this battle we
see for the first time that such military vision was possessed
by Frederick. In the critical moment he ordered his whole
right wing to charge the Austrians, while a weaker general
would probably have reinforced his left. The charge was
completely successful ; the Austrian left, outflanked, began
to fall back in confusion on its right ; and Prince Charles,
to avoid a worse fate, gave the order for a general retreat,
which was not pushed as it ought to have been by the
Prussians.^ The Austrian loss in killed, wounded, and
missing, was about 7,000 ; the Prussian between 4,000
and 5,000; but the Prussian loss in killed, principally
owing to the cavalry panic, was 1,905 against 1,052 of
the Austrians. Above 1,200 of the Prussian cavalry had
been destroyed during the day.

Slight as had been the military results of the battle in
favour of Frederick, they were enough to dispirit the
Austrian court, which had as it were lost its throw of the
dice. Maria Theresa was now ready to make peace with
Frederick, and it is said that he became possessed,
shortly after the battle, of a letter from Fleury to the
Queen of Hungary, offering to make peace with her
secretly, and leave the king to her tender merfcies.
Once more he saw, or supposed, that his allies were
cheating him, and again played his concealed ace. On-

^ The Due de Broglie imagines that there were some elaborate reasons
for this failure to pursue. It was a common fault of that time.

G 2

84 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

11th June 1742.

the 11th of June he signed at Breslau a treaty by which
Silesia and even Glatz were yielded up to him.^ When
Belle-Isle went to him ia person to remonstrate with him
for treating the King of France badly, Frederick con-
founded the diplomatist by producing the letter from
Fleury to the Austrian court, offering peace on the basis
of leaving Prussia for Maria Theresa to deal with as she
pleased. It is said that Belle-Isle's equanimity was so
disturbed that, on coming out of the king's presence, he
tore off his own wig and dashed it on the ground. One can
fancy the flash of Frederick's eye as he produced the com-
promising letter, which was probably written without the
knowledge of Belle-Isle. Certainly in those days, truth,
instead of finding refuge in the breast of kings, was no
where treated with such contempt as in the Courts of
Europe.

^ The Due de Broglie can iSnd no proof of this story of the letter.
But it is at least certain that the French agent at St. Petersburg was
trying to reconcile Russia and Sweden, though Frederick had bar-
gained that they were to be kept separate so as not to act against his
northern and north-eastern frontiers.

CHAPTER 711.

SILESIA IS PRUSSIANISED. FREDERICK'S HABITS. — DIPLOMATIC

COMPLICATIONS. — PRUSSIAN ARMY AGAIN STRENGTHENED.

VOLTAIRE AT BERLIN. FRENCH INVADE THE NETHERLANDS.

PRINCE CHARLES CROSSES THE RHINE INTO ALSACE. —

FREDERICK STRIKES IN. — AUSTRIANS INVADE SILESIA.

•a.d. 1742—1745.

1742.

Frederick was now thirty years old, and had learnt much
in the last two or three years of his life. The idea of glory
which had dazzled him when first deciding on his expedition
into Silesia, had now become dim and cold ; moreover he had
gained what he sought, and vindicated the claims of his
house to the rich territory out of which it had been cheated.
It was now his hope to settle down to the arts of peace,
and on his return to Berlin he busied himself chiefly with
the government of the kingdom, the improvement of his
capital, and the reorganisation of Silesia in a Prussian
sense. So successful were his measures to this end that,
under his fostering care, Silesia became six or eight times
as valuable to the Prussian crown as it had in former days
been to that of Austria. There are few instances on record
of a territory lately conquered, becoming so thoroughly

86 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

nth May 1742-27tli June 1743;

loyal and happy as Silesia under Frederick. He was abso-
lutely tolerant of all religions, though he exacted obedience
alike from priests and parsons. As much piety as they
liked and could produce he would have, and perfect freedom
of worship ; but there must be no interference by religion-
ists with the act of government or the secular arm. He
himself appointed Cardinal von Sinzendorf vicar-general of
Silesia, and gave the Pope, who protested, to understand
that he was master in his own territories. Protestant, and
even free-thinker as he was, he soon became excellent
friends with the Holy Father. His kingdom was thoroughly
well-managed; he possessed his father's appetite for the
details of work with a liberality of feeling all his own, and
while btiilding a new opera-house at Berlin, and developing
the academy of sciences, while creating the little country-
house and establishnient of Sans-Souci, he busied himself
with law reform, and greatly increased the army ; to which
he added new perfections in drill and tactics, derived from
his past exjperiences of war. He seemed to unite in him-
self various and apparently opposite qualities. The stern
king who held his own against the diplomacies and the
armies of Europe, was such an exquisite musician that he
could melt his audience to tears, by hiS performance on the
flute, wept like a child when his mother died, and was
known to lament as a weakness in himself that he had
more feeling than other men. His admiration of Voltaire
and his works was almost passion, yet when that
famous man visited him at the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle,
being sent by Fleury to try whether private friendship
could be used for diplomatic purposes, he had no more
success with Frederick than Belle-Isle, or any other pro-
fessional diplomatist. The King of Prussia saw as clearly
in politics as on the field of battle. His own interests and

FBEDERICK'S HABITS. 87

11th May 1742.27th June 1743.

those of his country were the objects upon which he fixed
his eyes, nor could any wheedling turn him to the right or
left out of the straight path to this goal.

Thiebault, in his Souvenirs de vingtans de Sejour ^
Berlin, gives an interesting description of the king's habits
which he commenced on coming to the throne, and con-
tinued throughout almost the whole of his life.^ Having
determined to become an early riser, he ordered his servants
to wake him at four o'clock. But like meaner men in the
same case, he aft first could not shake off the dulness of
his faculties, and dropped to sleep again, even entreating
his servants for a little more slumber. He was, however,
determined to vanquish this weakness, and appointing a
special servant for the purpose, commanded him, under pain
of becoming a common soldier for life, to put a cold wet
towel on his face every morning at four o'clock. This
rough measure conquered his sleepiness, and all the rest of
his life, until near the end, he rose at that early hour.
The practice of quick dressing which his father had im-
pressed upon him as a boy never forsook him. His military
dress and high boots which he always wore were slipped on
at once, and in a quarter of an hour he was ready. He
had neither slippers nor dressing-gown ; only at times
when he was very ill did he use some kind of linen gown,
but even then he had on his military boots. Once in the
year, and once only, he discarded the boots, and appeared in
silk stockings : it was when he went to his wife's court to
congratulate her upon her birthday.

As soon as he was dressed his letters were brought to
him by a page, and he examined them with the greatest
care to discover if the seals had been broken or not ; acting

^ Preuss gives another description of Frederick's day. It differs
slightly in some details^ but seems to refer to a later period.

88 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

11th May l742-27th June 174S.

thus as a check upon his secretaries. All post-masters were
obliged to send the king a list of any letters for him which
passed through their hands, with the address of each
person who wrote them ; no one being allowed to write to
the king without leaving their addresses with the post-
master to whom they delivered the letters. Frederick
doubled the sheet of paper according as he decided to
answer favourably, to refuse or to reserve the letter for
future consideration. About eight o'clock, one of his four
secretaries entered, and, while the king breakfasted, read in
a few words the gist of each letter, Frederick dictating
the nucleus of an answer. If the wi-iter was a woman he
never failed to say, " It is a woman, you must write cour-
teously to her." His private letters he kept to himself.
All the secretaries were then employed until four o'clock
in writing the answers, no clerks being employed. Though
Frederick had not time to read all the answers, he picked
out a few at random, and read them as a check upon the
accuracy of his secretaries. These secretaries were little
less than slaves to duty. They were almost always un-
married, for Frederick would not trust married men to
keep secrets from their wives. When offering Counsellor
MUller, who was married, a place of secretary, he said :
" You will never forget that, for the good of my service,
,you must neither have family, nor relations, nor friends."
Frederick was perfectly indifferent as to the form in which
he was addressed, or to any apparent want of respect for
his person ; but it came to be known that any one who
wrote to him had better complete what he had to say on
one side of a sheet of paper, otherwise his letter was sure
to be ill-received.

At nine o'clock, when the secretaries had been dismissed
to their task, it was the turn of the first aide-de-camp, with

WORK AND AMUSEMENT, 89

]lth May 1742-27th June 1743.

whom Frederick arranged all his military business for the
day. From ten till twelve the king either attended military
exercises or devoted himself to literary work, music, or
private correspondence, and between ten and twelve he
gave audience to individuals who wished to see him. Nor
was this a mere matter of form, for during this interval of
peace after the conquest of Silesia, the king proclaimed
that he was ready to see on business any of his people who
might desire an interview with him.

At twelve o'clock precisely the king dined, with guests
whom he had invited never earlier than ten o'clock the
same morning. He ate with much appetite, and had a set
of cooks of different nations, who had each to dress the
dishes of their own countries. The only special tastes of
the king were for much pepper and spices and good fruit,
of which he ate largely. His favourite wine was cham-
pagne. He was always gay at table, and full of repartee.
After dinner Frederick generally walked, and so fast that
his attendants could hardly keep pace with him. After
signing his letters at four o'clock, he did whatever business
was required with regard to the academy, to the schools of
the country, and generally to subjects of art and literature.
At six o'clock he had a concert, in which he himself per-
formed on his favourite instrument ; nor did he cease this
diversion till very late in life, when his teeth were all gone ,
and he could not produce the notes he desired. The concert
lasted an hour, after which there was bright conversation
till supper at ten o'clock. This meal was given up during
the Seven Years' War, Frederick's digestion being no doubt
impaired by the hardships of the campaigns. By eleven
o'clock, at latest, the king was in bed.

Such were the habits of this remarkable man, of whom
his worst enemies have never said that he failed in devo-

90 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

11th May 1742-27th June 1743.

tion to business and hard work for the good of the Prussian
crown and country. It was a life for the most part of
severe self-denial; and no one who studies his character
with care can fail to be convinced that Frederick loved
peace rather than war and truth more than diplomacy.
His early desire for glory was natural enough in so young
a man; but it soon disappeared, and if his policy was
tortuous it was because no straight path could possibly be
pursued among the intricacies of facts and the craft of
other courts.

The court of Berlin became at this time the centre
of European diplomacies. England was trying to draw
Frederick into a war against France ; France was equally
busy in pressing for his alliance against England and
Austria. Frederick desired, in the first place, a peace
which should leave him in possession of Silesia, but if that
were not to be had, then such a balance in the war as
should weaken both sides by degrees and prevent either
of them from having force to spare for the attack of
Prussia. He refused to join France, and endeavoured,,
without success, to deter England from meddling with her
troops. He also conceived a project of forming an associ-
ation of the circles of the Reich in order to form a neutral
army, but the small states shivered with terror and could
• not be got to move. To strengthen his diplomatic game he
strongly fortified Glogau, Brieg, Neisse, Glatz, and Cosel,
and increased his army by 18,000 men. As Voltaire said
of him, " Princes nowadays ruin themselves by war,
Frederick enriched himself by it."

While Frederick was thus strengthening himself, the
war con tin led with great advantage to the Austrians.
The old and semi-paralysed Broglio was shut up in Prague,
where he insisted on retainipg the command, though Belle-

BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 91

27th June 1743-5th June 1744.

Isle was the life of the defence. The greater part of the
French upper army had been wasted, and was now be-
sieged, and Maillebois, with the lower army, was ordered
to advance to the assistance of the garrison of Prague. It
is true that his movement caused the temporary raising of
the siege, but he obtained no footing in Bohemia, and,
falling back, became inactive in Bavaria. Broglio made
use of the opportunity to escape from Prague with a
portion of the garrison, and took the command out of the
hand of Maillebois. An Anglo-Hanoverian force joined the
Austrians on the Rhine, and gave Maria Theresa a distinct
superiority in those quarters, and on the 27th of June,
1743, was fought the battle of Dettingen, which was as
honourable to the regimental officers and rank and file of
the English army as it was absurd in the muddle made
by the commanders. English-Hanoverians and Austrians
together were somewhat more than 40,000 strong, all paid
by England, which was at this time pouring out its trea-
sure with a freedom and for a cause now rather astonishing.
But for English money the war would have collapsed long
before. The French marshal, Noailles, with about 58,000
men, had completely out-manoeuvred the English commander,
if indeed that may be called a mano&uvre which consists in
one side sitting still and becoming surrounded, with its
communications cut and a river to be crossed in face of the
enemy before the army can get its breakfast. The fine old
quality of British doggedness saved at Dettingen, as it has
often done before and since, the military honour which the
generals had compromised. George II. himself was in
command, and spent a considerable proportion of the time
during which the battle raged standihg in front of his
Hanoverian troops in the preposterous position of a fencing
master. He and Lord Stair had brought the army into its

92 FREDERICK TEE GREAT.

27th June 1743-5th June 1744.

trouble, and the king's only idea now was to stand in a
defiant attitude and let the troops pull themselves out of
the difficulty as they best could. By sheer bull-dog courage
the English portion of the force found its way over the
bridges, and did in fact get its breakfast without at all
knowing that it had done anything heroic. Prague had
fallen on the 17th of December, 1742, Marshal Belle-Isle
having made a brilliant retreat out of the town with the
small remnant of the original French upper army. Thus,
everywhere, Austria was successful, and Frederick had
reason to fear for himself unless the tide of conquest
could be stayed. He explains in the Histoire de Mon Temps
that he feared lest France should abandon the cause of the
emperor, which would mean that the Austrians, who now
boldly spoke of compensation for the war, would turn their
arms against himself. Frederick knew that when Maria
Theresa, now at peace with him, had complained to
George II. of the cession of Silesia made by the advice
of England, George had replied in words which distinctly
pointed to a retrocession of the province : " Madame, ce
qui est bon k prendre est bon ^ rendre." He learnt also
that England and Austria intended to force a peace upon
France, leaving Silesia to the tender mercies of Austria,
and that Saxony, at this time or later, joined these
confederates.

He now saw that he would be again obliged to step into
the arena, and in the latter part of 1743 he sent Count
Kothenburg to the court of Versailles. Voltaire had
shortly before paid him a visit at Berlin, hoping to draw
him into an alliance with France. Frederick was very
friendly, but it must be confessed rather *' chaffed him "
when he tried to diplomatise. All that Voltaire said, he
had taken into account already, and when the brilliant

VOLTAIRE AT BERLIN. 93

27th June 1743-5th June 1744.

writer sent him in one day a paper gravely pressing upon
him the danger which thj^eatened him from Austria,
Frederick wrote in the margin —

■&'

On les y recevra, Biribi,

A la fa^on de Barbari, mon ami I

But Eothenburg's message was serious, and France was
trembling, not for her conquests, but for her own terri-
tory. After the battle of Dettingen the victorious Anglo-
Hanoverian force was to cross the Khine above Mayence,
and march into Alsace, while Prince Charles of Lorraine,
with a strong Austrian army, was to pass near Basle and
occupy Lorraine, taking up his winter quarters in Bur-
gundy and Champagne. The English crossed without
any check and moved on to Worms, but the Austrians
failed in their attempt. Worms became a centre of
intrigue, which Frederick afterwards called " Cette abyme
de mauvaise foi." The Dutch were persuaded by Lord
Carteret to join the English, and they did at last send
14,000 men, who were never of the least use. Lord
Carteret also detached Charles Emanuel, King of Sardinia,
from his French leanings, and persuaded him to enter into
the Austro-English alliance. It was clear that action
could not be long postponed, and Frederick began to
recognise the necessity of a new war.

His first anxiety was to guard himself against inter-
ference from his northern and eastern neighbours. He
secured, as he hoped, the neutrality of Russia by marrying
the young princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, afterwards the noto-
rious Empress Catherine, with the Grand-Duke Peter of
Bussia, nephew and heir to the reigning Empress
Elisabeth. The princess had been brought up in Prussia,

94 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

5th June-March 1744.
and her father was a Prussian field-marshal, while her
mother was the sister of the heir-apparent of Sweden.
A second strengthening marriage was made, namely, that
of the Princess Ulrica, Frederick's sister, to the same
heir-apparent of Sweden. Thus strengthened, as he
hoped, in his rear and flank, and having made the com-
mencement of a German league called the "Union of
Frankfurt," by which Hesse and the Palatinate agreed to
join Frederick and the Kaiser, he concluded on the 6th of
June, 1744, a treaty which brought France also into this alli-
ance. It was secretly agreed that Frederick was to invade
Bohemia, conquer it for the Kaiser, and have the districts
of Koniggratz, Bunzlau, and Leitmeritz to repay him for
his trouble and costs ; while France, which was all this
time at war with Austria and England, should send an
army against Prince Charles and the English. In March,
1744, England had narrowly escaped invasion, and readers
of the present day will do well to consider that less than
a hundred and forty years ago an army of 15,000 men,
under the Count de Saxe, was considered a sufficient force
for the purpose of seating Charles Edward upon the English
throne. There was absolutely no defensive force in the
kingdom. The invasion was prevented, not by any action
of the English fleet, but by a storm, which dashed the
whole flotilla to pieces, steam not having been invented in
those days. Let us also remark with thankfulness that
after the collapse of the invasion there was a general
press for recruiting the army and the fleet, at which time
a thousand men were taken out of the gaols of London
and Westminster alone, to say nothing of other gaols in
the country, and sent to serve the king, with pay of
sixpence a day.

The first stroke of the coming war in Germany was

FREDERICK MOVES ON PRAGUE. 95

March- Aug. 1744.

delivered by France. Louis XY. sent a large army into
the Netherlands, under two good leaders, Noailles and
Maurice de Saxe. Urged by his mistress, the Duchesse de
Chateauroux, he joined it himself early, and took the
nominal command early in June, carrying with him the
duchess and an immense train, which included even a
theatrical company. The towns rapidly fell before him,
and Marshal Wade, with the Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian
army, sat still and looked at the success of the French.
But on the night of the 30th June-lst July, Prince Charles
crossed the Rhine by an operation which is worth the
study of military students, and invaded Alsace, the French
army of observation falling back before him. Louis XV.
hurried back to interpose between the Austrians and Paris,
and reached Metz on the 4th of August, where he was
stricken with a dangerous illness, and all France was
plunged into grief and prayers for the " well-beloved king,"
who was afterwards to be such a curse to the nation.
Maurice de Saxe was left in the Netherlands with 45,000
men. Thus the French army was paralysed, and the
Austrian army in its turn was actually invading France.
At this time Frederick struck in. He sent word to the
king that though all the terms of their arrangement had
not yet been fulfilled, he would at once invade Bohemia,
and deliver a stroke against Prague which would certainly
cause the retreat of Prince Charles with his 70,000 men.
If the French army would follow Prince Charles in his
retreat, Frederick would attack him, and between France
and Prussia the Austrian army would certainly be crushed,
and Vienna be at their mercy. This was no doubt an
excellent plan of campaign, but, like the previous operations
concerted with Broglio, it depended for success upon the
good faith of the French, and this turned out to be a

96 FREDERICK THE GREA T.

7th Aug.-16th Sept. 1744.

broken reed. On the 7th of August the Prussian ambas-
sador at Yienna gave notice of the Union of Frankfurt,
and withdrew from the court of Austria ; and on the 15th
the Prussian army was put in march upon Prague.

Frederick's forces moved in three columns, the total
strength being over 80,000 ; two columns marched through
Saxony, one on either side of the Elbe. Frederick com-
manded that on the south side, the younger Leopold that
on the north. The third column under Schwerin marched
from Silesia by Glatz. Besides these three columns there
was another force of 20,000, which remained in Silesia;
destined, if necessary, to create a diversion by threatening
Olmiitz. Frederick, anxious not to break with Saxony, did
not occupy Dresden, though his flotilla with siege train and
provision for three months passed up the Elbe. Maria Theresa
was now again in great danger, but as usual retained her high .
courage, and once more called forth the enthusiasm of her
Hungarian subjects, who sent swarms of wild troops, horse
and foot, to the seat of war. Frederick's march was
unchecked, but his flotilla of 480 boats hung for ten
days, delayed by obstructions which the Austrians placed
in the Elbe at Tetschen, on the Saxon frontier, where
the river, and now the railway, thread their way through
the craggy precipices known as the Saxon Switzerland.
On the 1st of September the three columns met before
Prague, which had better defences than in the last
campaign, and a garrison of some 16,000 men, 4,000 of
whom were regulars and the rest militia, Hungarian and
otherwise. The siege artillery came up on the 8th of
September, and during the night of the 9th the bombard-
ment commenced ; an important redoubt on Ziscaberg was
captured on the 12th, and on the 16th the garrison sur-
rendered. Thus, one month after the commencement of

FRENCH FAILURE TO HELP, 97

Ifith «ept -23rd Oct. 1744.

tke march Prague was captured, and the campaign opened
by a brilliant feat of arms.

In later years Frederick's opinion was, that he ought
now to have strengthened himself in the part of the country
which he had won, seizing magazines which Bathyani
had established in those parts, and watching events ready
to strike in at the right moment. His own plan at the
time was to move south-west, beat Bathyani and capture
his magazines; then move to meet Prince Charles on his
way through the passes of the Bohemian mountains.
Belle-Isle advised another course of action, which the king,
paying too much respect for Belle-Isle's ability, adopted,
contrary to his own opinion. Leaving a small garrison in
Prague, he moved to Budweis and Neuhaus, thus threat-
ening Austria, but leaving his own flank and communica-
tions exposed to attack. His heavy artillery was left in
Prague. The result was that Bathiyani with his irregulars,
not having been destroyed, hung in crowds upon the com-
munications of the Prussians, who were soon shut out
from knowledge of what was passing outside the army, and
could not even get their messengers through with despatches.
The French, whose army should have been thundering in
rear of Prince Charles, dropped the pursuit entirely, and
turned away towards the Upper Bhine about the Lake of
Constance. Frederick had saved them at a critical moment ;
with cynical indifference they left him to perish, just as
they had on another occasion declared to Maria Theresa
that if she would make a satisfactory peace with France,
she might do what she would with the Prussians. King
Louis himself returned to Paris without the duchess, whom
he sent away when he was ill, to please the priests, but
took back again as soon as he was well ; and who died, it is
said, by poison immediately afterwards. Seckendorf, the

98 FREDERICK THE GREA T.

23rd Oct. -19th Nov. 1741 -

enemy of Frederick's youth, had 30,000 men in the
Palatinate as part of the Kaiser's army, but he also de-
serted the King of Prussia, and turned his attention to
re-conquering Bavaria. Munich was indeed saved, and the
Kaiser returned there on the 23rd of October.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles, being unmolested, crossed
from the upper Palatinate into Bohemia and the circle of
Pilieu, and united with Bathyani. The Saxons sent a con-
tingent of 20,000 men, under Weissenfels, across the Metal
Mountains by Eger and Carlsbad. This Was the news
which Frederick received from some of the first couriers
who succeeded in breaking through the veil of darkness
and reaching the Prussian army. The king had blundered,
and was now paying for it. Prince Charles, or rather
Field-Marshal Traun, who advised him, cut in between the
Prussians and Prague, separating Frederick from his
magazines, and eating up the country so as to destroy him
by want and famine. Frederick tried to bring them to a
decisive battle, but they avoided it, and manoeuvred so as
to oblige him to move rapidly and exhaust his army with-
out being able to feed it properly. He himself says he
learnt much by the skilful manoeuvring of Marshal Traun
in this campaign. On the 17th of October the French sent a
letter to say that when their siege of Freyburg was finished
they proposed to send a force to Westphalia, as if that
would help Frederick much. At the beginning of November
the Austrian manoeuvres issued in a descent upon Pardu-
bitz, and Frederick found that he must choose between
giving up Prague and his retreat that way through hostile
Saxony, or his much more important communications with
Silesia. He decided, at any rate, to defend Pardubitz and
the Elbe; but on the 19th of November the Austrians and
Saxons succeeded in crossing at Teinitz, ten miles east of

A USTRIANS INVADE SILESIA, 99

19th Nov. 1744-Jan. 1745.

Kolin, whereupon the king saw that the game was i:p> and
retreated on Silesia in two main cohimns, one under his
own command by Nachod, the other under the younger
Leopold by Glatz. The garrison of Prague under Einsiedel
evacuated the place, and succeeded, with considerable loss,
in making its way also into Silesia. Frederick wrote of this
campaign afterwards : " No general committed more faults
than did the king in this campaign. The conduct of M. de
Traun is a model of perfection which every soldier who
loves his business ought to study and try to imitate, if he
have the talent. The king has himself admitted that he
regarded this campaign as his school in the art of war, and
M. de Traun as his teacher. Bad is often better for princes
than good ; and instead of intoxicating themselves with
presumption, renders them circumspect and modest."

Immediately after the close of this abortive campaign,
Frederick returned to Berlin. Both armies intended to go
into winter quarters, but the fiery Maria Theresa insisted
upon an invasion of Silesia ; and Marshal Traun did at last
push into Upper Silesia and the county of Glatz, but was
driven out again in January by the elder Leopold. His
letreat into Moravia over the snow-clad hills was not
effected without much loss from privations. Swarms of
irregular troops were also driven from Silesia, Prince
Charles was not present in these affairs. News had reached
him that his much-loved wife had died, after giving birth
to a still-born infant. The marriage had been one of love,
and such glory as his manoeuvres had earned for him,
brought him little comfort in the presence of that human
sorrow which strikes an equal blow against prince or
peasant.

H 2

CHAPTER VIII.

SILESIA PULLED OUT OF THE FIRE. — BATTLES OP
HOHENFRIEDBURG AND SOHR.

A.D. 1745.

1745.

Once more Frederick was back at Berlin after the unlucky
campaign, preparing with high courage and energy for the
fortunes of the coming season. Blow after blow now
fell upon him. Belle- Isle, the Prosper© of the storm, the
one Frenchman in whom Frederick believed, was captured
on the 20th of December, while passing through an outlying
part of Hanover, and sent a prisoner to England. The
unfortunate Kaiser Karl VII., an Imperator without com-
mand of armies, without power over his empire, aud almost
without an income, sank at last under an accumulated load
of anxiety, misery, and disease, and died on the 20th
January, 1745, in his forty-eighth year. His last advice
to his family has been recorded in two opposite senses.
One account says that he advised them to eschew ambition
and make friends with Austria ; another relates that he
enjoined upon them never to repay with ingratitude the
services of France and Prussia. But what were they to
do 1 There was now no Kaiser to lend even a name to the
cause of France and of Belle-Isle, whose hand no longer

TREATY TO PARTITION PRUSSIA. 101

Jan. -May 1745.

directed the gusts of opinion in the German courts. The
King of Prussia saw plainly the course likely to be taken
by events, and offered peace through England. But
George II. was lukewarm in that sense, and did little or
nothing. The Saxons, who were only bound to assist
Austria in case of invasion, seemed likely to join in the
work of aggression. To crown all, money was running
short, so that the king actually had some of the silver
furniture of his palace at Potsdam sent to the Mint ready
for melting. On the 22nd April the Bavarian question
"was solved by the peace at Fiissen, by which Austria
relinquished her hold on that country in return for an
alliance with it and general good-will. And at the same
time there was being negotiated an arrangement, afterwards,
the 18th of May, shaped into a treaty, by which the Dutch
and the English, dragged at the tail of Hanover, agreed
with Austria and Saxony to partition Prussia ; the good"
natured Sea Powers acting of course once more as milch
cows. Nay more, England, diligently building up the
national debt, was helping to bribe the Czarina Elisabeth
to act against Prussia in consideration of the gift of two
millions " for her pleasures."

Such was the state of public affairs when Frederick
joined his army at Neisse in the latter part of March,
and found it suffering from a putrid fever. Old Leopold —
rugged, tender-hearted ancient of nearly seventy — had lost
the worship of his youth, the brave companion of his
campaigns, the apothecary's daughter whom he had married
for love some fifty years ago, and raised to work beside
him as a princess of the Beich. The sorrowful old man
craved leave to go home, and Frederick took his place in
command of the army. In May old Leopold was placed
in command of a camp of observation on the frontier of

102 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

April-May 1745.

Saxony. Valor i, the Frencli ambassador, reported of
Frederick at this time that he was graver than of old ;
changed for the better he thought, mild, humane, and
modest. But the king's letters from Neisse to his minister
Podewils ring like a trumpet-call. *'I will maintain my
power, or it may go to ruin, and the Prussian name be
buried under it." "Learn from a man who does not go to
Eisner's preaching, that one must oppose to ill-fortune a
brow of iron ; and, during this life, renounce all happiness,
all acquisitions, possessions and lying shows, none of which
will follow us beyond the grave." High words indeed, but
made good by high deeds. In April he prepared for the
worst by arranging a retreat for his wife and his mother
in case Berlin should be attacked, and in May he drew in
his posts and detachments even from the Jiigerndorf country,
which he left partly a prey to the Austrian irregulars, who,
though soundly beaten near Jiigerndorf by the Margrave
Charles of Schwedt, one of the Brandenburg family, and
by Colonel "Winterfeld at Landshut, seriously annoyed the
Prussians and veiled the movements of the Austrians. In
the Jagerndorf action, the cavalry which had been re-
created in organisation and drill by Frederick, first showed
on a large scale the results of his laboirrs. Ziethen with 500
hussars carried, through swarms of irregulars, Frederick's
order for the margrave to join him; and next day the 12,000
Prussians cut their way through a mass of 20,000 oppo-
nents, destroying the regular troops, and putting to flight
the irregulars with much loss. Thus the margrave and
Winterfeld joined the king, who moved his head-quarters
to Schweidnitz. His army was then 70,000 strong. Prince
Charles, who had rejoined the Austro-Saxon army, was
coming on over the mountains, moving from Landshut on
the last day of May.

BATTLE OF FONTENOY. 103

May-3rd Jane 1745.

While tlie fate of Silesia hung in the balance, there
occurred on the 11th of May one of those battles well
known in English history, wherein English troops, led
without judgment, but with infinite courage, covered them-
selves with glory, but lost the day. The battle of Fontenoy
does not come within the fair limits of Frederick's battles,
and it must suffice to say that a mixed army — English,
Dutch, and Austrians, under the Duke of Cumberland,
attacked the French in a strong position, when attack was
the worst possible strategy, penetrated — at least the English
column penetrated — right through the centre of the French
army, and for want of tactical leading were completely
defeated. The attack of the English infantry was much
like that of the light cavalry at Balaklava — magnificent,
but not war.

In the first days of May the Prussian army lay extended
from Schweidnitz to Jauernik ; Prince Charles and the
Saxons coming on by Reichenau and Freyburg. " Why do
you not defend the mountain passes ? " asked Valori.
" Because," replied the king, ''if we want to catch a
mouse, we leave the mouse-trap open." This is the answer
to all advocates of a mountain barrier held on the far side.
Good, if you are weak, and wish to keep out or delay
the enemy. Bad, if you are strong and mean to fight him.
Frederick meant to kill his mouse, and baited his trap by
causing Prince Charles, who had no Marshal Traun with
him now, to believe that his great fear was lest the Austrian
army should push between him and Breslau.

On the 3rd of June Frederick, who hourly swept the hills
with his telescope, first saw that cloud of dust which usually
heralds the approach of an army. All that afternoon the
allies streamed down from the hills, the Prussians lying hid,
or showing only weak and deceptive parties of hussars. The

i04 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

4th June 1745.

Saxons pushed on that night to Pilgrimshayn with outposts
nearly at Striegau, the Austrians in the right rear of the
Saxons reached to Rohnstock and Hausdorf, where they
bivouacked. Thus the Austrian position was clearly seen,
while Prince Charles did not even know that the
Prussian army was present in strength. During the night
the king moved his whole force. Du Moulin on his right
was ordered to take the hills in front of Striegau during
the evening, which he partly did, dislodging the Saxon
outposts. The rest of the army defiled silently through the
night across the bridge at Striegau ; but the rear was
delayed for some time by the breaking of the bridge, so that
the left of the king's army was late in arriving on the
ground. The Austrian leaders saw the movement of Du
Moulin, but took his column of 10,000 or 12,000 men for
the main Prussian force, or at most for the rear-guard of an
army retiring on Breslau.

In the early morning the Duke of "Weissenfels, with his
Saxons, commenced his attack on the hills which cover
Striegau. Du Moulin hurried up a battery of six twenty-
four-pounders to the further slopes of the Spitzberg,
otherwise called Mount Topaz, in front of the village, then
attacked the Saxons, who were shaken by the fire of the
guns, and threw them back much shattered. Their cavalry
failed to restore the fortune of the fight, and were defeated
by the Prussian cavalry of the right wing, which came
across during the night and joined Du Moulin at daybreak.
Prince Charles was awakened by the sound of the firing,
but believed it came from the Saxons capturing Striegau ;
nor was he undeceived till fugitives began to come in,
telling of the disaster which had befallen his advanced
guard. The Austrians were brought quickly into line as
they had bivouacked, and might have taken advantage of

BA TTLE OF HOHENFRIEDB URG. 105

4th June 1745.

the delay caused to the Prussians by the broken bridge.
There was also a gap in the Prussian left centre, caused by
a wheel up of the right wing against the Saxons. But with
typical Austrian unreadiness, no use was made of the
chance, and the destruction of what was now the left of the
allies exposed the flank of Prince Charles. Ziethen, with
the Prussian cavalry of the left wing, crossed by a ford, and
the rest of the army came swiftly into position, pressing the
Austrian line in front. Threatened in left flank, and over-
matched in front, it gave way, and hardly needed the
'dashing charge of Gessler's Bareuth dragoons, who passed
through the gap in the line and threw themselves with
splendid impetuosity into the rnidst of the shaken
Austrians. Beaten at every point, the army, which
yesterday had come down from the mountains with banners
displayed and military music, was thrown back into the
defiles by eight o'clock in the morning, and would have
been destroyed by a thorough pursuit. At this time,
however, Frederick had not learnt to appreciate the golden
rule that a beaten enemy should be pressed at every
sacrifice. His troops were fatigued by the night march,
and he failed to gather the full fruits of victory. Under
cover of their guns, the Austrians retired slowly, and were
only pursued to the foot of the mountains, a little beyond *
Pohnstock and Hausdorf . Thus the mouse, after entering
the trap, was allowed to escape, though with loss of skin
and fur. The Austrians left on the field 9,000 killed and
wounded, 7,000 prisoners, 66 cannon, 73 flags and stan-
dards. The Prussians lost 5,000 killed and wounded, and
rested on the field of battle. The steadiness of their night
inarch and wheelings during the action had been wonderful,
and the cavalry showed that the pains which the king had
taken to improve them had not been thrown away.

105 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

20th July-Sept, 1745.

Next day began a slow pui'suit till the Austrians found a
position at Koniggratz, whence Frederick could not drive
them. From about the end of June till the 20th of July
there were various manosuvres, all caused by the want of
rapid pursuit at fii'st, and on that day Frederick formed a
camp at Chlum with intention to eat up the country and
prevent its becoming a good base for a new invasion. The
king was himself suffering from want of money and applied
to Louis XY. for help, without which he could not remain
in activity with his army. Louis offered him a miserable
dole — some £20,000 per month — which Frederick refused,'
and was very bitter as to the battle of Fontenoy and the
capture cf Tournay, which he said were of no more use to
him than victories at Pekin or the Scamander. On the
26th of August the Convention of Hanover was signed by
George IT., who, anxious for his throne at home then
threatened by the Pretender, agreed to the terms which
Frederick was always willing to accept, namely, the secure
possession of Silesia. There was no Kaiser to fight for now, and
indeed, on the 13th of September, the Grand Duke Franz,
Maria Theresa's husband, was elected, even Bavaria voting
for him. Anxious as he now was for peace, Frederick was
aware of signs that the Saxons had designs against him,
and he strengthened old Leopold, who, in the camp of
Striegau, watched the frontier with eyes longing for one
more fray before the sword should fall from his old and
wearied hand for ever. But his time had not yet come.

The Prussian army on the Elbe was greatly annoyed by
the Austrian and Hungarian light troops, chiefly furnished
by the Hungarian " insurrections." Little subsistence
was to be derived from the country, and the communica-
tions with Silesia were difficult to be maintained. In the
early part of September the left wing of the camp was at

CAMP AT CHLUM. 107

Sept. 1745.

Jaromirz, the main body on the other side of the Elbe with
bridges between them, one line of supply was by Neustadt
and Glatz, the other nearly due north by the Schatzlar pass.
Neustadt was strongly attacked by the Austrians, and even
bombarded by heavy artillery. The defence was successful,
but the place was finally abandoned on the 16th of Septem-
ber, for want of water. There remained, therefore, only one
line of communication through the Schatzlar country, which
was so infested by the Austrian light troops, that no convoy
could come through without a strong force to defend it.
Frederick now determined to retire slowly into Silesia, and
moved on the 18th of September ; passing to the eastward of
the KonigreichWaldjhe encamped at Staudenz, and lay there
for some time, carrying out his intention of consuming the
supplies of the country. He intended to move further
northwards on the 30th of September, but on the 29th
learned from deserters and by a reconnaissance that the
whole Austrian army was moving up the Elbe, and that
its advance-guard had already arrived at Arnau, nearer to
Schatzlar than he himself was. The rear of the Austrians
was at Kbnigshof, now known as Koniginhof, the scene of
one of the actions afterwards fought in 1866. The king
now ordered that the whole army should march northward
at ten o'clock next morning, but during the night the
Austrians, covered by a crowd of light troops, took ground
to their right, and lay near Sohr, with outposts close to
the Prussian camp. Evidently the Prussian outpost work
was not well done, whatever their discipline might be. The
camp was about two miles long, facing southwards, protected
on its left and left front by a rough country, with defiles
and brooks and a ravine close by, and running all along
the front of the camp. The weak point was a hill towards
the right, near enough to be of advantage to an enemy, yet;

108 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

SOth Sept. 1745.

not close enough to be brought within the compass of the
camp. The king's force was only about 18,000 men. In
the early morning a message came, in from the vedettes
posted on the hill to the right, to the intent that the whole
Austrian army was advancing close by, raising huge clouds
of dust as tliey came on. This was clearly a surprise, and
shows that the Prussian arrangements must have been
faulty. But the military instinct of the king came in to
the rescue. After a short survey from the hill, Frederick
decided upon his plan of action. To retreat woijld expose
him to be destroyed in the hills, to stand still was to wait
for destruction. He decided to attack. Already the Aus-
trians had occupied the hill ; and placed there a battery of
twenty-eight guns. The Prussians came into line to their
right with admirable steadiness, under the fire of the
Austrian artillery, but, being little more than half as
strong as Prince Charles's army, could only for the most
part form one line instead«of two. We now see the germ
of the tactics so often associated with Frederick's name ; he
refused his left wing as much as possible, and ordered
Buddenbrock with the tavalry on the right, supported by
the right wing of the infantry, to attack the Austrian left.
The Austrian cavalry were completely defeated, and driven
back into the hollow Georgengrund, whence they did not
emerge for the rest of the day. The infantry right wing
attacked the hill, failed at. first, but succeeded when sup-
ported by the whole of the reserve, namely three regiments.
Ten guns were captured, and the Austrian left completely
broken. The reserve, however, attacked Burgersdorf, but
were repulsed by the Prussians, who set the village on fire
as a screen. Gradually from right to left the Prussians
pushed forward, and now the victorious Buddenbrock
joined the cavalry on the left, and attacked the Austrian

BATTLE OF SOHR. 109

80th Sept. 1745.

right near Prausnitz, thus rolling up that wing of the
enemy which had not yet suffered. The whole of the
Austrian army then fell back in confusion into the
Kdnigreich Wald. Tlieir strength was about 34,000 at the
beginning of the battle, against 18,000, and they were
totally defeated, the last cavalry charge alone captiu-ing
2,000 prisoners of them.

But where were the light troops during all this time "i
They were intended to attack the Prussians in rear, and
they carried out their instructions to the letter by attack-
ing and* pillaging the Prussian camp, but they broke the
orders in the spirit, for they did not attack the Prussian
army. They did their pillaging work well, and with great
cruelty. The camp was gutted, 'the Prussian sick, and even
€ome women, burnt alive. All the king's camp furniture
was taken, and it was difficult to procure for him even a
slice of bread after the battle.

Without doubt Frederick's ajmy was caught napping on
this occasion, and ought to have been defeated. The*
Austrian plan was good, but there was not sufficient vigour
in execution. If the Austrian gavalry on the left had
charged the Prussians vigorously down hill while they were
changing their formation under the fire of the big battery,
it is probable that success would have been achieved. But
the national characteristic is to make good plans, but to
fail in energy of execution. The Prussian king, on the
contrary, was surprised, but took the initiative with great
rapidity and daring, not even hesitating to send his cavalry
charging up hill. This was a great risk, but as the least
of many risks was one of those inspirations which flash
across the minds of great generals. The Austrians acted
according to their character, Frederick according to his;
and we shall see in his future battles the same military

110 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

30th Sept-eth Nov. 1745.

inspirpvtion bringing him out of great perils, sometimes
caused by his own fault.

The Convention of Hanover had detached England from
the alliance against Prussia, and Frederick might well
suppose that after the battle of Sohr he might count at
least upon rest, and probably upon peace. He returned to
Berlin to superintend the measu«"es of diplomacy, leaving
the younger Leopold in charge of the army, which, from
want of provisions, was constrained to retire into Silesia.
The elder Leopold still commanded the force which was
watching Saxony. But peace was not to be yet. Not
Maria Theresa this time, but Count Briihl, the Saxon
minister, was now the moving spirit in the combination
against Frederick. Field IMarshal Griine with 10,000 men
was called up from the Austrian army of the Rhine to
Saxony. The plan was that Prince Charles, instead of
going into winter quarters as expected, should march north-
wards to Gorlitz and Guben, so as to turn Frederick's
Silesian army and cut it oif from Prussia ; while the Saxon
army under Rutowski, combined with Griine's detachment,
should make a sudden attack upon old Leopold, beat him, and
move straight on Berlin. This plan was excellent, but clearly
required silence as one of the chief constituents to success.
Briihl could not hold his tongue, and one day at dinner told
the story to Wolfstierna, the Swedish envoy at Dresden,
and to Rudenskjold, the Swedish envoy at Berlin, who was
on a visit to Dresden. Since the marriage of the Princess
Ulrica the Swedes were friendly to Frederick. Rudenskjold
went straight to Berlin, and on the 8th of . November
laid the whole scheme before the king. Frederick's coun-
sellors refused to believe it, but he acted on his own
counsel. He directed old Leopold to prepare at once for
marching, and when the old warrior, with that mingled

NEW PLANS OF ALLIES. 1111

15th-23rd Nov 1745.

over-caution and easy sloth whicli come with declining
years, argued against the king's plans, Frederick cut him
short with the sharp answer, "When your highness has
armies of your own, you will order them according to your
mind ; at present, it must be according to mine." So old
Leopold got ready, and his son in Silesia drew the army
there towards the Silesian-Lusatian border in the direction
of Prince Charles. On the 15th of November Frederick was
off to Liegnitz, and on the 1 8th took the command of the
force, now numbering 35,000 men, and lying at Nieder-
Adelsdorf, about forty miles from the line of Prince
Charles's march. His object was to conceal his presence,
and to that end he allowed every one who chose to pass
within his line of outposts, but none to pass out again.
Winterfeld, with 3,000 light troops, kept the line of the
Queiss river, Frederick himself that of the Bober. Prince
Charles was completely deceived, and knew nothing of
Frederick's presence. On the 20th of November his army
entered Lusatia, the Saxon contingent leading, and en-
camped in the neighbourhood of Schonberg, between the
Neisse and the Queiss ; his strength was about 40,000.
Winterfeld reported his presence, and the king at once
ordered a pontoon bridge to be constructed near Naumburg,
which, with a bridge already there and two fords, would
give four crossing places for his army. On the 21st
Frederick left the Bober, arrived at Naumburg on the
23rd, and crossed the river in four hours; Ziethen with
the cavalry clearing the front of the army from Austrian
cavalry and light troops. Ziethen pushed on through a
heavy mist, actually led by the retiring enemy, with whom
he kept touch into the village of Hennersdorf, where he
surprised the Saxons in the act of being paid by thft
quartermaster. Other Prussian reinforcements were pushed

112 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Nov.-12th Dec. 1745.

on at speed under great difficulties, struck the rallying
Saxons and defeated them, taking 914 prisoners. Next
day the Prussians were ready to attack again, but Prince
Charles was in rapid retreat. At Gorlitz he made a
demonstration of fighting, but again retired, leaving the
place to capitulate ; the same at Zittau ; and so back to
Bohemia, through the passes of Gabel to Aussig in
Bohemia, whence, relinquishing his part of the combined
plan, he moved down the Elbe to join his allies in Saxony.
Frederick, with the main Prussian army, moved to Bautzen,
going into cantonments there, and feeding his troops with
the stores collected by the Austrians at Gorlitz and Guben
for the army of Prince Charles.

It was now the turn of old Leopold, whom the king
ordered to advance at once. Griine, hearing of the afi'air
at Hennersdorf, relinquished his designs upon Berlin, and
joined the Saxon army under Butowski, which fell back
from the frontier towards Dresden hoping to unite with
Prince Charles. Every tiling now depended on speed. "Was
the king to join Leopold, or Prince Charles to unite with
Butowski ? Frederick urged Leopold to be speedy ; the
old general took his time, stopping here and there to build
ovens and bake bread. It was necessary to have a bridge
over the Elbe for the two armies to combine. Leopold
moved by Leipsig to Torgau, too far north. The king
spurred him on to Meissen, opposite which Frederick placed
an advanced guard under Lehwald. After spending three
days at Torgau, old Leopold, in his quiet way, clinging to
the old style of war, jogged on to Meissen, and arrived
there on the 1 2th of December, Prince Charles being then
through the Metal Mountains, advancing on Dresden.
Meissen being seized, Lehwald, with the advanced guard,
joined Leopold, and Frederick also marched to his help.

BATTLE OF KESSELDOEF. 113

Mth-25th Dec. 1745.

(Jld Leopold moved from Meissen on the 13th towards
Dresden, watching for Rutowski, and again on the 14th,
still not finding him. At last, on the 15th, the Saxon army
was seen strongly posted in a defensive position, which like
most defensive positions, the resort of weak generals, had
the disadvantage that it hampered the defenders and left
all the initiative to the assailants. On the right was placed
Griine with the Austrians, his front covered by a ravine
through which ran the Tschone stream. To attack him
would be difficult, almost impossible — but then he also could
hardly attack. Thus he was for all practical purposes out
of calculation for the battle, and the superiority in numbers
possessed by the Saxons — 35,000 against 32,000 Prussians
— was neutralised or worse. The same Tschone stream
covered the whole front of the Saxon army, but was more
passable at other points than in front of Griine. The left
of the Saxons was at Kesseldorf, in front of which they
had a battery of thirty guns well intrenched. This was
the key of the position, and Leopold determined to make
his main attack there, refusing his left, and extending his
right to outflank the Saxons. Nothing could be simpler
or clearer, and those who talk of defending England by
occupying a series of defensive positions, will do well to
lay to heart the lesson afforded by this battle of Kesseldorf.

The nut was however a hard one to crack; and old
Leopold, before attempting it, reverently bared his head
and prayed, " Lord God, help me yet this once ; let me not
be disgraced in my old age ! Or if Thou wilt not help me
don't help those Hundsvogte " (opprobrious epithet), " but
leave us to do the best we can." With that he let slip his
right wing against the hill near Kesseldorf with its in-
trenched batteries and Saxon grenadiers, who defended it so
well that the Prussians suffered a first and second repulse

I

114 FREDERICK THE GREAT

13th-25th Dec. 1745.

with heavy loss. But then the Saxons, thinking the time
come for a counter attack, and not having a reserve at hand
to make it with, led also into folly by one Austrian
battalion with them, rushed out of the works in pursuit.
Old Leopold, slow in strategy, was quick-eyed in battle.
He instantly launched the cavalry of his right wing against
the Saxons as they came on, tumbled them into ruin, and,
pushing on the infantry reinforced, captured the great
battery. At the same time the Prussian centre, under
Leopold's son Moritz, advanced waist-deep across the boggy
brook, and helped to destroy the Saxon army, capturing
many prisoners. Whole regiments laid down their arms.
Their left and centre thus broken and ruined, the Saxons
sought safety in flight. Griine, secure in his useless and idle
position, looked on all day during the battle, retiring
quietly at night. He was safe enough ; the Saxons had
lost 3,000 killed and wounded, with 6,000 prisoners.

Next day, the king came up, and, at sight of Leopold,
dismounted from his horse, dotted his hat, and advanced to
meet the old man with open arms. The bright designer of
new methods of war honoured the master of the old ways
which he was displacing. The veteran warrior who had
besought the God of battles at least to let him alone, saw
himself reverenced by the young soldier who had not
ceased to push him these many days. Who will not sym-
pathise with the triumph Leopold enjoyed during the short
remainder of his life ? He died on the 7th of April, 1747.

Prince Charles, who was already about Dresden, and
might have joined in the battle had he been quicker of
apprehension and action, retired at once into Bohemia.
Dresden opened its gates to the conquering Prussians,
Saxony made peace, and Austria agreed at last to resign
all claim on Silesia. The treaty was signed at Dresden

PROGRESS IN. TACTICS. 115

Pco. 1745.

on Christmas Day, 174.5, having been arranged through
the medium of Villi ers, the English ambassador. Silesia,
with Glatz, was henceforth to be an integral portion of
the Prussian kingdom.

Thus far we have seen a series of military movements
and battles in which the king was learning the art of war.
Mollwitz was fought entirely in the old style — parallel
formation and hammer-and-tongs fighting in which the
steadiness of the Prussian infantry gained the day, the
cavalry being inferior to that of the Austrians. At
Chotusitz there was parallel order again, but the action of
Frederick in attacking with his right wing instead of rein-
forcing the left, shows courage and military insight. In the
campaign against Prince Charles and Traun, Frederick was
clearly out-manoeuvred by the Austrian general, but made
up for many strategical errors by his tactical dispositions
and great daring at Hohenfriedburg and Sohr. In both of
these battles he used the oblique order, refusing one flank,
and attacking with the other reinforced. His cavalry,
improved by himself, and led by remarkable commanders,
was the best on the European continent, and handled by
the king with great boldness and initiative. His artillery
was defective for reasons given in Chapter III., and field
artillery had not then become more than a defensive arm.
Frederick's want of knowledge how to handle artillery
boldly, and his failure to pursue a beaten enemy, are
evident faults at this period of his career.

I 2

CHAPTER IX.

AND MAUPERTUIS. — LEAGUE AGAINST PRUSSIA. — THE MENT-
ZEL DOCUMENTS. — FREDERICK MARCHES FOR DRESDEN.

A.D. 1746—1756.

CThe task which Frederick had set himself to do as his
share in the rise of the Hohenzollerns was now accom-
plished. Silesia was his, guaranteed by solemn treaties.
Peace also, much needed for his kingdom, seemed at last
assured, and he set himself to gather in the fruits of his
victories. Throughout his campaigns two desires had been
always present to him. First, to win and hold Silesia as
an integral part of his dominions. Second, to win repose,
and spend it in improving the condition of his people, and
enjoying the society of the chosen spirits of his age. His
devotion to literature was only second to that for his
kingdom, and there is no doubt that he would rather
have been known in history as a successful votary
of the Muses than as the winner of campaigns. Bitter
experience had taught him that such glory as war brings
is dearly purchased ; he had yet to learn that the triumphs
of peace may be equally disappointing.

j The peace which he had gained for himself refused as yet
/jip calm distracted Europe, and England made overtures to

. FREDERICK'S REFORMS, 117

1746.

him, offering great advantages, among others a subsidy of
a million annually if he would draw the sword on her side
of the quarrel. Frederick was not to be moved. His
country house was approaching completion, and the name
which he gave it tells clearly the condition of his mind.
" Here," he said, one day to D'Argens, *' Je serai sans
soucif^ and Sans Souci — without worry — came to be the
name of the royal cottage. But the meaning of the king
had probably been that not in the cottage, but in the tomb
which he was building for himself hard by, he would at last
lay down his worries. It certainly was not in his mind to
seek an inglorious ease at this or any other period of
his life.

His first task was to reform the procedure of law. The
duty of designing the means was confided to Cocceji, his
chief law minister, even before the peace, and the result to
be aimed at was, in few words, that every lawsuit should
be begun and finished within a year. The chief measures
were the extirpation of attorneys, so that clients were
brought into direct contact with their advocates ; the weed-
ing out of judges and advocates, so that none but the best
remained, and those well paid ; and the king's own special
contrivance, all suits with their appeals and what not,
three chances being allowed, to be made an end of within
a year. The reform was carried out, and the king generally
supported the decisions. But he had in him much of
his father's temperament, and there were cases in which
his despotic will asserted itself. Some of the stories told
of him are, perhaps, mythical, but all cannot be untrue. At
least it may be said ir ^lis honour that he sometimes knew
how to yield his will to the law as administered by just and
determined judges.

Frederick's idea of justice was that right should be done,

118 FREDERICK THE GREAT.,

1744-1745.

and iliat he was tke best judge of wliat was right. His
high-handed proceedings extended not to his kingdom
only, but beyond its frontiers. As early as 1744 he had
shown his hand in rather humorous fashion. His agent
had engaged a dancer at Venice, Barberina by name, to
come to Berlin. The time for fulfilling the treaty arrived,
but the fair damsel was then in soft dalliance with an
Englishman, and laughed at the agent. Nothing should
make her leave the pleasant city for the rude admiration of
Berlin. Frederick appealed to the doge and senate, but
gained nothing from them but good words. After some
months, a Venetian ambassador happened to be passing
through Berlin, and slept at an hotel there. Next morning
he found that his baggage was seized ; nor could he get it
out of the king's hands till Venetian justice arrested
Barberina and packed her off to Berlin, where she event-
ually became the wife of the very Cocceji who was now
reforming the laws.

A still stronger step was taken by Frederick at a
later period during the ten years' peace. Ost Fries-
land, with ports on the Atlantic, having fallen in to
Prussia in 1744, the king encouraged maritime adven-
ture, and hoped to make his country a sea power. He
even fitted out at one time an expedition to the East
Tndies — the promised land of that time. Immediately
after coming into possession of Ost Friesland, he arranged
with England what articles were to be considered as con-
traband of war. But in 1745 the English began to seize
wooden planks which, under the head of timber, were by
agreement to be free. Frederick protested, and insisted
that his ships so laden and so seized should be released.
The English Admiralty courts condemned them. Frederick
appointed a special commission, directing its members to

VOL TAIRE AND MA UPERTUIS. 1 19

1745-1751.

report ** wliat they could answer to God, to the king, and
to the whole world," concerning the dispute. The commis-
sion reported that the ships were not carrying contraband
of war. The dispute dragged on till, in November, 1752,
Frederick notified to the English Government that he
should not pay to English holders of Silesian bonds their
usual dividend, till his own shipowners were compensated,
or the ships and cargoes returned. This was certainly not
law, but he carried out his idea of rough justice, thus com-
pensating his own people at the expense, not of England,
but of certain innocent Englishmen.

In pursuance of his intention to surround himself with
men of genius, Frederick invited Yoltaire to Berlin. The
great Frenchman arrived in July, 1750, and was made a
chamberlain with the cross of the Order of Merit, and a
pension of £850 a year — a large sum in those days, espe-
cially in so frugal an establishment as that of the Prus-
sian court. At first all went well. The brilliant wit of
the satirist enlivened the court, and awoke the duller in-
tellects of the practical Prussian soldiers and statesmen.
But it awoke also the jealousy of other favourites, such as
Maupertuis, the President of the Academy ; and Yoltaire,
dyspeptic and irritable, made himself enemies on all sides.
Quarrels arose with Maupertuis, and Voltaire had a dis-
reputable lawsuit with Hirsch, a Jew, whom he had em-
ployed in what we should now call a doubtful stock
exchange transaction. On the 24th of February, 1751, the
king wrote him a letter from Potsdam, in which, after
reproaching him with irritability against other friends
and political meddling, he concluded in these words : —

For my own share, I have preserved peace in my house till
your arrival : and I warn you, that if you have the passion of
intriguing and caballing, you have applied to the wrong hand. I

120 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

1751.

like peaceable, composed people, wlio do not put into their con-
duct the violent passions of tragedy. If you can resolve to live
like a philosopher I shall be glad to see you [at Potsdam] ; but if
you abandon yourself to all the violence of your passions and get
into quarrels with all the world, you will do me no good by
coming here, and you may as well stay in Berlin.

Here was warning enough, one might suppose, but
"Voltaire was incorrigible. A demon of unrest drove him
on. His quarrels became more bitter than ever. The
pompous Maupertuis committed himself foolishly in a
controversy with Kbnig, who had questioned the originality
of a theory of his on Maxima and Minima, wherein the
President of the Academy had professed to find proof of
the existence of an intelligent Creator of the universe.
Of his paper, Essai de Cosmologie, Voltaire wittily wrote :
** M. de Maupertuis pretended that the only proof of the
existence of God is the circumstance that AR •\- n RB is
a minimum." This article appeared in the Bihliotheque
Raisonnee. The academy supported Maupertuis and con-
demned Kbnig. Frederick wrote a sharp reply to Voltaire's
article, but evidently knew little of the controversy.
Finally, Voltaire wrote his Doctor Akahia, a satirical piece
in which he gibbeted Maupertuis and his doctrines. The
Ahakia was read to Frederick, who heard it with peals of
laughter, but strictly forbade its publication. In vain.
The satire of a man to whom nothing was sacred was not
to be suppressed. Doctor Akakia appeared, first in Holland,
then in Berlin. Thirty thousand copies were sold in Paris,
and the Academy of Berlin became the laughing-stock of
the world of letters. Voltaire swore that the publication
was no doing of his, but the king wrote to him ; —

Your effrontery astonishes me. After what you have done, and
what is as clear as day, you persist, instead of owning yourself

VOLTAIRE QUITS PRUSSIA. 121

1752.

culpable. ... If you drive the affair to extremity, all shall be
made public ; and it will be seen whether, if your works deserve
statues, your conduct does not deserve chains.

On the 24th of December, 1752, Akakia was burnt in the
public streets of Berlin by the common hangman, and
though Yoltaire was again received at Potsdam, he soon
obtained permission to leave Prussia, on pretence of drink-
ing the waters at Plombi^res, and carried off with him a •
copy of certain poetical effusions of the king, which their
royal author dreaded to have published because some of
them were sharp criticisms of brother royalties. From
Dresden and Leipzig Yoltaire continued to let fly Parthian
shafts of ridicule against Maupertuis, who threatened him
with a challenge. Voltaire's reply, though witty, was
unclean and insulting. Europe roared with laughter, but
Frederick was very wrath. Clearly the wit was not to be
trusted, and orders were given that the (Euvre de Poesies
should be taken from him when he passed through Frank-
furt. He was arrested accordingly, and detained because
the book was not with him. It arrived shortly, and was
given up, together with his cross of chamberlain. But mean-
while the irritability of the philosopher and the dulness of
the officials brought about a series of scenes more or less
discreditable to both. Such was the result of Frederick's
efforts to turn his court into a temple of the Muses.

Nor were, his hopes of perpetual peace destined to be
fulfilled. > The great natural quarrel between England and
the powers which restrained her free movements on the
sea and her extension of colonies, had never ceased.^
.^ngland would have the freedom of the sea ; and on land
/ghe pushed population and ploughs where France paraded
soldiers. In such a struggle war must come, but, by laws
invariable as the laws of ^ature, the population will win

122 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1752-1755.

in the end. After much bickering, blows began in 1754,
and at the beginning of 1755 England despatched the
ill-fated Braddock with a small force, which was destroyed
in July — evidently because Braddock, like most English
generals of the time, was a brave man absolutely ignorant
of the military art. 'As yet, however, the quarrel was only
colonial. England embittered, it by seizing French ships
without any declaration of \(^ar. >

But why did Frederick strike in, if indeed he desired
peace 1 In truth there was no choice for him. '. As early
as 1752-53 his secret agents had discovered that Austria,
Russia, and Saxony were hatching a plot for the destruction
of Prussia, and such a partition as afterwards befell un-
happy Poland. In 1753 a Saxon official, Mentzel by name,
began to supply the Prussian agents with copies of secret
documents from the archives at Dresden, which proved
that, during the whole of the peace, negotiations had been
proceeding for a simultaneous attack on Frederick, though
the astute Briihl, mindful of former defeats, objected to
playing the part of jackal to the neighbouring lions. CIn
short, by the end of 1755 the king knew that preparations
were already on foot in Austria and Russia, and that he
would probably be attacked next year certainly, or at latest,
the year after. A great war was coming between England
and France, in which the continental power would attack
Hanover, and tread closely on the skirts of Prussia. The
/situation was dangerous, and became terribly menacing
wEen England bargained with Russia to subsidise a
Muscovite army of 55,000 men for defence of Hanover.
Russia consented with alacrity. Money was all that the
fczarina needed for her preparations against Frederick, and
in the autumn of 1755 she assembled, not 55,000, but
70,000 men on the Prussian frontier, nominally for the

NEUTRALITY CONVENTION. 123

Jan. -Jane 1756.

use of England. But throughout the winter all the talk at
St. Petersburg was of Frederick's destruction in the coming
spring. ,

It was time for him to stir. His first move was one of
policy. He offered England a "neutrality convention" by
which the two powers jointly should guarantee the German
Reich against all foreign intervention during the coming
war^ On the 16th of January, 1756, the convention was
signed in London, and the Russian agreement thrown over,
as it could well be, since it had not been ratified.

Europe was now ranking herself for the struggle. In
preceding years the Austrian diplomatist Kaunitz, had so
managed the French court, especially through the medium
of Madame de Pompadour, that Louis XV. was now on the
side of Maria Theresa, [who had bowed her neck so far as
to write to the FrencK king's mistress as *'Ma Cousine,"
while Frederick forgot policy, and spoke of the Pompadour
in slighting terms. ^^ Jene la connais pas," said he once,
and was never forgiven. Yet some attempts were made
by France to enlist Frederick on her side against England.
For alliance against England he was offered the plunder of
Hanover and the island of Tobago. He sternly refused ;
and henceforth the Pompadour had her way. France and
Austria allied themselves against England, and for revenge
of " J^e ne la connais pas.^' The agreement with Russia
to partition Prussia had already been made, and Frederick's
sharp tongue had betrayed hini into calling the czarina
that ^^ Infame catin du nord." , Saxony waited for the
appearance of her stronger neighbours in order to join,
them. (England alone was Frederick's ally. And what an
ally for a continental struggle ! There were just three
battalions in England, and though she was raising others,
the Duke of Newcastle dared not have colonels for them

124 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

June-Aug. 175«.

because the patronage would be in the hands of his political
adversary, the Duke of Cumberland. The French threatened
invasion. Hessian and Hanoverian troops were brought
over and regarded with hatred by the populace. LFortu-
nately the French expedition sailed for Minorca instead of
for England, and the episode of Admiral Byng's retirement
occurred in the Mediterranean instead of the Straits of
Dover. The result ^as the capitulation of Minorca in the
end of June, 1756. jThis was the England of the time.

/But the star of Pitt was rising, and its brilliant rays soon
showed the true path to a nation which never needs more
than a brave and capable leader, and always finds him at
the right moment. Frederick said later, "England has
been long in labour, but she has at last brought forth a
man.^/

Meanwhile Austria was arming. Camps were formed in
Bohemia and Moravia. War was plainly at hand, and

) Frederick determined that he would not give his adversaries
the first move. Following the advice of Mitchell, the envoy
of England at Berlin, he demanded through his ambassador
at Vienna a distinct assurance that the armaments were
not destined for the invasion of Prussia. He received,
first an ambiguous, then a haughty reply, and on the 29th
of August, 1756, launched his forces on the road to
Dresden. The Seven Years' War had commenced, j

CHAPTER X.

THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR BEGINS. — CAMPAIGN OF 1756. — BATTLE

OF LOBOSITZ. — CAPITULATION OF PIRNA. SAXON ARMY

ABSORBED.

A.D. 1756.

17.5ff.

The total force for home purposes and for war, possessed
by Frederick when the war opened, was about 150,000 men.
Of these about 65,000 marched southward in three columns.
The right_wing,^ommanded by Duke Ferdinand of Bruns-
v^n^k, marched from Magdeburg by Leipsig — Freiburg —
Dippoldiswalde, to the neighbourhood of Pirna. The centre
under the king with Marshal Keith as second — a Scotchman
trained in the Russian service, but lately drawn into the
circle of Frederick's warriors — moved direct on Dresden by
the south bank of the Elbe. The left was led by the Duke
of Bevern, and marched from Frankfurt on the Oder by
Bautzen to Lohmen, where it faced Duke Ferdinand on the
other side of the Elbe. Besides these, another army under
Schwerin was ordered to march from Silesia through the
Glatz mountains by Nachod. The Saxons had a total
force of 18,000 men, say a field army of 14,000 or 15,000.
f-The Austrians formed two camps ii\ Bohemia under Marshal
^"Browne and Prince Piccolomini. ^fFrederick's plan of /ii
campaign was to sweep up the Saxon army or cause it to i
disperse, lest it should, as in a previous campaign, interrupt

126 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

V 1756.

his communications. Then the three columns from the
north and the oiieirom the east would fall upon the
Austrians in Bohemia, drive them back, and perhaps dictate
peace at the gates of Yienna. In that case one of his
intended executioners would be disposed of, and the league
broken up.

This /plan was spoiled by the Saxons who, instead of
fighting or dispersing, retired to the rugged district on the
Elbe now known as the Saxon Switzerland, where they
hoped i|o hold ^ out until Austria or Russia could come to
their assistance. ■ Dresden was occupied without a blow, and
the first act of the king was to order the seizure of the
original documents copied by Mentzel, and still lying in the
archives of the Saxon capital.

The retreat of the Saxons was a shock to Frederick's
plans. Schwerin's column halted in front of Koniggratz,
where Piccolomini's camp was placed. A reconnaissance
of the Saxon highlands showed that the army which had
taken refuge there, about 14,000 strong, could not be
attacked. Frederick, hearing that its store of provisions
was small, established a blockade, placing his own head-
quarters at Gross-Sedlitz. The principal mass of the
Saxons lay at Hennersdorf; but they occupied also the
small but impregnable fortress on the steep Konigstein,
where the Elector of Saxony, who was also King of Poland,
slept every night. It is suggestive of the times that,
though the Saxon army was to be starved out, Frederick
allowed the table of the King of Poland to be well sup-
plied — an indulgence which must have told against the
early surrender of his forces. Marshal Keith was de-
spatched with about 32,000 men up the Elbe to Aussig, to
protect the blockading force against General Browne, who
had been ordered by the Austrian court to relieve the

POSITIONS OF ARMIES. 127

2Srd Sept.-lst Oct. 1756.

Saxons at all hazards. It is clear that the designs of
Austria and Russia were not intended to be carried out
so soon, for, though Browne marched on the 23rd of Sep-
tember to Budin, on the Eger, he w^as told to wait there
until the 30th for the arrival of his artillery and pontoons,
which had to be prepared at Vienna. Frederick was
informed of the movements of Browne, and feeling anxious
lest his force at Aussig should be turned without an oppor-
tunity to fight, moved his head-quarters to that place on
the 29th, and took the command. Next day he moved to
Tiirmitz with a strong advance-guard, sending forward a
small detachment, which scoured the country as far as
Lobositz, and discovered that the Austrian army was
already laying down bridges to pass the Eger. Early in
the morning of the 30th the heads of his main columns
began to arrive at Tiirmitz, and at 3 a.m. Frederick,
with his advance-guard, pushed on rapidly to Welmina,
where from his posts on the hills he could descry the
Austrian army and camp below on the Bohemian plains,
not more than about a mile distant from him. The right
flank of the Austrians rested on the Elbe at Lobositz, its
left was at Tschirskowitz. It is remarkable that so good a
general as Browne neglected to occupy the two hills just
in front of his camp, that of Lobosch on his right, and
Homolka on his left, for they commanded the issues from
the mountains. Frederick, observing their value, seized
them at once, and occupied the pass between them, through
which ran the road from Welmina to Lobositz.

Next morning, the 1st of October, autumn mists enfolded
the lower hills and lay in foggy thickness over the whole
plain, completely hiding the Austrians from view. At first
the king, expecting an attack from the enemy, deployed a
hundred guns in one grand battery extending from the

128 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

1756.-

Ilomolka hill right over that of Lobosch, in front of
Lobositz, and drew up his infantry first in two lines, after-
wards extending them so that they formed only one. The
cavalry, in three lines, was behind the infantry. The king, not
supposing that Browne would have made so grave a mistake
as not to occupy the hills if he intended to fight, and find-
ing that no attack took place, only some annoyance from
Croat light troops, judged that the Austrians must be
crossing the Elbe with intention to turn his left flank and
march down towards the Saxons by the right of the river.
He therefore decided to pivot on his left, and drive what
he supposed to be Browne's rear- guard into the Elbe. He
first sent forward twenty squadrons of cavalry to charge a
body of the enemy's cavalry which had been seen through
the fog near Lobositz. The Austrian cavalry were driven
back, but the Prussian horse came upon well-posted in-
fantry, which fired rapidly, having now — they also — iron
ramrods. At the same time the fog-curtain slowly rose
and disclosed to the eyes of the king the whole Austrian
army drawn up in line of battle — left and centre behind
the almost impassable Morell brook, right extending
through Lobositz to Welhoten. Lobositz was strongly
occupied by infantry, with redoubts and many guns. It
was also evident that Browne was moving more infantry
through Lobositz on Frederick's left flank. There was one
great defect in Browne's position — though his left and
centre were protected by the Morell brook, they were
hindered by it from advancing. The advantage to Frede-
rick was the same as that to Marlborough at Ramillies,
and he used it in the same manner as the English general.
The Prussian cavalry having been repulsed in a second
charge retired, and the king, instead of swinging round
his right as he had intended, decided to neglect the Austrian

BATTLE OF LOBOSITZ. 129

ma.

left wing and concentrate his whole power in an attack on
Lobositz. In this movement the battalions became crowded,
a fact which gave rise to the belief that the infantry were
formed in three lines. Browne made a strong frontal
attack on the Lobosch hill, outflanking it also from Wel-
hoten. The king extended his left to meet this movement.
The Austrians were repulsed and driven down upon Lobo-
sitz, some of the troops from Welhoten being even thrust
into the Elbe. The Austrians fought gallantly. So severe
was the struggle that the Prussian infantry expended the
whole of their ammunition, ninety rounds per man, and
then, coming to a deadly wrestle with the bayonet and the
butt, thrust the enemy through Lobositz, occupied it, and
began to push forward in pursuit. Browne had attempted,
once or twice, flank attacks with his left, which crossed the
brook higher up to attack Lobositz, but every such move-
ment was repulsed by the great Prussian battery. Now
that things had gone wrong on the right, Browne drew in
his left, and by it checked the Prussian pursuit, so that his
army succeeded in disengaging itself and retiring in good
order about a couple of miles from the battle-field.

It was not the king's wish that Browne should remain
there, and he accordingly detached the Duke of Bevern
with a strong force to Tschirskowitz, with orders to threaten
Browne's communications, who, fearing the loss of his
supplies at Budin, fell back to that place.
^Both sides claimed the victory, the Austrians because
they had repulsed the early cavalry attack, the Prussians,
more justly, because they had foiled Browne's intentions,
prevented his advance into the mountains, and caused him
to fall back from the battle-field._l Each side had lost 3,000
men, the Prussians having suffered slightly more than the
Austrians,

130 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

. Oct. 17:8,

I Th e battle of Lobositz was the knell of the Saxon army.
One more attempt was indeed made by Browne. Under
urgent commands from YiennaSvhe crossed the Elbe" further
up, and moved by a circuitous route through Bohm-Leip'a,
Kamnitz, Kumburg, and Schluckenau, then to Lichtenhayn
near Schandau. He communicated to the Saxons a plan
by which, under cover of fire from the Konigstein, they
should throw a bridge across the Elbe and attack the
Prussian blockading posts in front, while he himself would
act upon their rear. It is doubtful whether this plan
would have succeeded under any circumstances. Its failure
was certain when the Saxons bungled their bridge-making,
and were two days late in giving the signal which Browne
expected. On the 14th of October the two signal guns
were fired from the Konigstein, but Browne was already
in retreat and out of hearing. The Saxon attack com-
pletely failed, and the army, hungering and soaked by
several days' rain, had to capitulate. \ Frederick with cool
cynicism incorporated the whole force in his own army —
an extraordinary step which turned out the reverse of
useful to his arms. J The Elector of Saxony was allowed to
retire to hisToIish court, and Frederick wintered at
Dresden, taking the administration of the electorate into
his own hands. Schwerin's army fell back on Silesia, and
was cantoned on the frontier of Bohemia. That of the king
remained in Saxony, forming a cordon from Eger to Pirna,
thence extending through Lusatia to the river Queiss.

The inception and conduct of this campaign have been
much criticised. Lloyd is astonished that Frederick did
not commence operations at the end of 1755 or beginning
of 1756, since he knew then as much as afterwards of the
combination against him. The English author approves of
his invasion of Saxony, but thinks that he ought only

CRITICISMS ON THE CAMPAIGN, 131

1756.

to have observed the Saxon army when it retired to
Pirna. He should then have pushed on to Bohemia, and,
if possible, Vienna. Tempelhof defends the measures
which were taken, and Jomini, summing up their argu-
ments, is of opinion that the invasion of Saxony was a
mistake, as its tendency was to irritate those who would
otherwise have remained neutral. According to this
writer Frederick should have avoided Saxony, penetrated
into Moravia, and marched by Olmiitz on Vienna.

This last opinion seems just, but it fails to take into
consideration that armies were in those days supplied
by huge trains of waggons, that the art of making war
feed itself had not then been invented, and, above all,
that a Russian army was cantoned on the Prussian frontier
ready, as might be supposed, to take the field if Frederick's
army were once removed far away from Berlin.

The truth seems to be that the king always hoped to
stave off the great crisis, and waited on events. I^ sc
doing he yielded to a common human weakness. rAs__a
man, leaving home dry-shod on a wet day, picks his foot-
steps for a while, but by degrees forgets his caution and
plods straight through mire and pools, so Frederick
hesitated to plunge at first into the sea of his enemies,
husbanded the strength of his army, and only became bold
to recklessness when war and danger of annihilation had
become familiar to him. He was not, like Napoleon, a
warlike adventurer, but a king who loved peace^ \

E "Z

CHAPTER XI.

CAMPAIGN OF 1767. BATTLE AND SIEGE OF PRAGUE.

A.D. 1757.

17j7.

The forcible absorption of the Saxon army into that of
Prussia startled all the courts of Europe. It was a new
thing unrecognised by international law. Frederick was
adjudged a monster, who should be put down by all possible
means. From our point of view the act was both a crime
and a blunder ; a crime against the Saxon soldiers whom
the king had no right to take, and who were thus placed in
a position to fight against their own countrymen ; a blunder
because the men so seized and incorporated gave a great
deal of trouble, and were always untrustworthy. It does
not however follow that we need sympathise with the self-
elected executioners, whose own interests now urged them
on rather than any virtuous wish to protect the liberties of
nations.

The combination against Frederick was one to appal the
stoutest heart. His own country numbered about 5,000,000
of population ; its revenue was rather less than £2,000,000
sterling. He had a hoarded treasure for war purposes, the
amount of which is not exactly known. This treasure pre-
pared for first expenditure in case of war is a regular

BA TTLE OF PR A G UE. 1S3

1757.

Prussian institution which continues in our own time, and
enables the army to commence a campaign without fresh
supplies granted by Parliament. Frederick's army had
been increased during the winter so that it now numbered
150,000 men for the field, besides a home defensive force
partly in garrisons of about 40,000. His allies the English
had in their pay a composite " Britannic army of observa-
tion " in Hanover. It was about 50,000 strong, and con-
sisted of the Hanoverians and Hessians who had been
brought to England when invasion was threatened, and
other Hanoverians, Brunswickers, and va,rious men from
North Germany. About the middle of April the Duke
of Cumberland was sent from England to command this
force. He was a brave man but an incapable general, and
as Frederick's advice was not taken with regard to the
strategy of the Duke's army the force had little influence
on the campaign. But, including it, the whole strength
of .himself and his allies amounted to about 240,000
men.

- XAgainst him and his small nation were arrayed France,
Austria, Hungary, presently Sweden, and, in the background,
E-ussia. Of troops actually in the field with intent to crush him
there were altogether 430,000 coming from four different
quarters. The French under Marshal _d'Estrees, numbering
about 110,000, crossed the German border near Cleves and
Cologne, with the intention of marching chiefly upon Prussia.
Another force under Soubise, 30,000 strong, was to rein-
force the Keichs armament as soon as it was ready. The
Austrians under Marshal Browne were divided into four
corps ; one under the Duke of Ahremberg was at Eger, the
second under Browne himself was at Budin, the third under
Count Konigseck was at Beichenberg, and the fourth in
Moravia under Count Serbelloni who was afterwaids

134 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

18th April-2nd May 1757.

succeeded by General Daun. The Kussians with 100,000
and the Swedes with 17,000 still hung back.

Clearly^ would be dangerous for the king to wait until
his enemies attacked him ; like all great generals he pre-
ferred to take the initiative, and directed his armies to
march upon Prague. About the end of April the Duke of
Bevern from Lusatia^ the king himself over the Metal
Mountains, and Schwerin from Silesia made an almost
simultaneous rush upon Prague. The king's column,
45,000 foot, 15,000 horse, was at first divided into two, but
united south of the mountains. Bevern had 18,000 foot
and 5,000 horse, Schwerin had 32,000 foot and 12,000
horse. He had the furthest to go, and started on the 18th
of April, uniting with Bevern on the 24th, who in the
meantime had beaten Kbnigseck at Reichenberg on the
21st, assaulting the Austrian general in a strong position,
though the Prussians were inferior in force. The king's
column had in crossing the Eger an affair with D' Ahremberg
whom Frederick tried to cut off ; but, as a main result,
the Austrian forces made good their retreat upon and
through Prague, outside which town the king arrived on
the 2nd May, Schwerin and Bevern not yet being up.
(^It was perhaps fortunate for Frederick that at this
moment Marshal Browne was superseded in comma,nd by
Prince Charles who had j ust arrived, and was not, as we know,
a brilliant general. ^3^® Austrians had a chance given
them for attacking JFrederick with greatly superior forces
before Schwerin and Bevern could unite with him. It is
said that a violent altercation took place between Prince
Charles and Browne, but that in the end the prince decided
to wait for the incoming of Kbnigseck before undertaking
any operations. ? His army lay on the Ziscaberg and
kept possession of the city.

BATTLE OF PRAGUE. 135

5th 6th May 1757.

The first difficulty was to effect a junction with Schwerin,
who was a day or two later than the time appointed.
Schwerin had fortunately captured an Austrian magazine
at Jung-Bunzlau, and was safely across the Elbe. On the
5th the king found a good crossing place at Seltz, north of
the city, and put together his pontoons there. He left a
force of 30,000 under Keith and Weissenberg and crossed
with the rest of the force the same day, coming in contact
with Schwerin' s advance party the same evening. He
appointed a meeting with the marshal near Prossik village
at 6 A.M. next morning.

The student of war who would grasp the method of
Frederick with its strength and its weakness, and appreciate
the character of the man with its influence on his work,
should study attentively, map on table, the battle of
Prague and that of Kolin, which followed it at no long
interval. He will mark the effect of Austrian slowness, and
the grievous error of trusting to the defensive absolute in
war. And if he will bear in mind the changes which have
taken place in modern times, the development of artillery
and small arms, he will recognise that, while the great
principles of tactics remain the same for all time, their
application must vary with the weapons used and with the
style of manoeuvre, which must change as the cannon and
the rifle change. In its main principles the battle of Prague
was not unlike that of Gravelotte; but how different were
the details !

On the morning of the 6th of May, 1757, the Austrian
army was encamped on the Ziscaberg facing north. Its
left rested on the height which towers above the city, and
drops down sharply some five or six hundred feet. Its
right extended to Kyge, and was strengthened by a
pond and boggy bottom; for the Ziscaberg, sloping east-

136 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1757.

ward, combines with other neighbouring hills to shed there
the waters which fall on the highlands. A poor brook
marks the lowest contour, but fails to drain the swamp,
though it fills a chain of ponds partly artificial. Modern
drainage has dried the ponds and hardened the swamp. In
1757 it was all an oozy quagmire. On the 6 th of May the
sluices of the ponds near Sterbohol had lately been opened,
and the muddy bottom sown with weeds, intended for carp
food so soon as water and fish should be returned to their
places. Already the growth was of a vivid green, which would
naturally deceive a schoolboy but not an experienced staff-
officer of modern times. To-day there is not a staff in
Europe which does not possess accurate maps of all such
important positions as Prague. In Frederick's time the
king and his generals seem to have been equally ignorant
of the ground on which they were to fight a battle of vital
importance to Prussia.

Frederick, Winterfeld his adjutant-general, and Schwerin,
rode in front of the Austrian position to reconnoitre, and
came to the conclusion that its front was unassailable, and
the flank at Kyge difficult, because there pools and bogs
were defended by batteries. Yet it was possible ; and
Schwerin, riding on, reported that further round the
Austrian flank the ground was more favourable, for he saw
there rich green meadows instead of fish ponds. The
meadows were the carp food growing in soft mud kneedeep,
and even waistdeep in places. The king decided to attack
this* flank. But when? Here arose a hot discussion. The
old marshal, Schwerin, prayed for a day's delay. His men
had been marching nearly all night and were fatigued.
The fiery king despised delay and fatigue. " Do you, then,
wish to wait till, perhaps, Daun arrives with a reinforce-
ment of thirty thousand men for the enemy % " The debate

BATTLE OF PRAGUE. 137

1757.

waxed hot, and old Schwerin finally rode off in a temper
to commit any rasli action, and determined that no reproach
of hanging back should ever be levelled at him or his men
for their deeds on this day.

The Prussian army was thrown into its usual two lines,
and set in motion to its left flank, marching with automatic
regularity, the pace and distance being kept with a perfec-
tion possible to the Prussians alone of all Europe at that
time. The Austrian artillery fired some rounds at them,
especially as they passed near and through Podschernitz. '
Not a shot told. The distance was too great for the
artillery of that day, though easily within range of modern
field guns, and the faulty position of the batteries on too
elevated ground caused the shot to fall with sullen thud in
the soft ground instead of bounding. Clearly the Austrians
should have pushed their heavy batteries more in advance,
and been ready to support, by a heavy infantry attack, the
effect produced by the guns. But they clung to the defen-
sive, though Prince Charles, by Browne's advice, brought the
cavalry of the left to support the right. The right wing
was also thrown back en potence, and extended a little, so
that the right of the army no longer rested on Kyge, but
was about Sterbohol, supported by a battery on the
Homolyberg. The cavalry were massed still further on
the right. By half-past nine o* clock the Prussian van-
guard was beginning to wheel up for attack, and the
Austrians were hurriedly arriving in their new position to
receive it.

Fierce old Schwerin, smarting under the stinging words
of his master, had led his troops so swiftly forward that not
only were all the slowly toiling twelve-pounder guns left
behind, but even the greater part of the regimental guns,
three-pounders. Decker, who has made the work of the

138 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

nil.
artillery in this war his special study, says that Schwerin
had no guns up with him. Other authorities say only a
few three-pounders. Certainly he was unable to prepare
the way with artillery. Winterf eld was the first to attack
with the head of the force, and rushed into Sterbohol before
the arrival of the Austrians, but was met as he advanced by
a storm of case shot from the Homoly battery. His ranks
were torn to pieces, and recoiled. He himself fell, grievously
wounded, but managed to crawl back to Schwerin, the
Austrian grenadiers standing eighty yards off, awe-stricken,
and without heart to pursue. Then the veteran Schwerin,
with the fire of youth in his hoary head under its snows of
seventy-three years, led on his men towards those rich,
green carp pastures. Down went the soldiers, some labour-
ing forward knee deep, some held fast sunk to the waist,
all under deadly fire from the battery and from the
Austrian grenadiers safe on the far side. The trim lines
were perforce broken. Some struggled through, some
filed on narrow causeways; Schwerin himself, seizing a
colour, rode along a dam, crying, ** HeraUy meine Kinder "
(This way, my children). Five grape shot struck him at
once, and he sank dead — his grief, his rage assuaged to-
gether, the light of battle for ever gone from his eyes.
His adjutant, Von Platen, seized the flag, but fell instantly
like his chief. Yet the Prussians pushed on — the Austrian
grenadiers resisting foot by foot — far better than of yore.
Fresh troops came up on both sides, and were hurried into
the fight. Even the Austrian cavalry joined in the turmoil,
till Ziethen found a way round by Michelup and struck the
Austrian horsemen, dashing them back, and driving them,
as ordered, far from the battle-field, (^arshal Browne was
the soul of the defence in this struggle till his foot was
smashed by cannon ball, and he was carried from the field. 1

BATTLE OF PRAGUE. 139

1757.

Prince Charles had tried to rally the horse till h6 was taken
with a spasm of the heart, breast-pang or what not, and
incapacitated for the time. By about half-past one the
Prussians were victorious, and the Austrian right wing
was tumbling back on the centre, for this is one of the
faults of the formation en potence.

Meanwhile, towards the centre, another episode had
occurred contrary to, or at least without the king's
orders. Another fault of the formation en potence is
that, if either wing moves forward or wheels up ever
so little, a gap is made in the line. This happened in the
struggle on the right. The right wing brought up its left
flank, and presented a gaping hole which no soldier could
see without longing to push into it. The soul of General
Mannstein — one of Frederick's acquirements from Russia —
was over-mastered by this craving, and, without leave asked,
he dashed at the opening, he too through mud and grape
shot. Prince Henry and Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick
supported him, not, it is whispered, without a secret under-
standing. Prince Henry, seeing his men filing slowly
along an embankment, cried, " This way, lads," and threw
himself boldly into the mire through which, heavy wading
as it needed, they passed more quickly than in file on the
causeway. The gap was gained, the battery captured, and
though the king scolded Mannstein afterwards, there is no
doubt that his volunteer exploit greatly helped the defeat
of the right wing, a large part of which, 16,000 strong, was
cut off from the main Austrian army and followed the
cavalry up the river. Where, then, was Ziethen with his
hussars to charge these fugitives 1 Alas, an enemy stronger
than Austrian horse, the great foe of all soldiers of the
stern north had seized them. Arrived at Nussel in pursuit
of the flying Austrians, they had found there plunder and

140 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1757.

drink. ** Your Majesty, I cannot rank a hundred of them
sober," said their commander, with face of shame.

Prince Moritz, who with the right wing of Keith's force
on the Weissenberg, had been ordered to cross the Elbe at
Branik — up stream — had failed to do so for lack of sufficient
pontoons. It is said that only three more were wanting,
but the lack of those three was enough to hinder the move-
ment. Thus 16,000 of the best Austrian troops escaped to
strengthen Daun. The rest were hurled back into Prague,
nor could all the efforts of Prince Charles get them out of
the city, though he tried several points of exit. ^The victory
was great. Perhaps it might have been greater if Frede-
rick had waited one day more to refresh the troops as
Schwerin had advised ; for then the Prussians might possibly
have entM-ed Prague and destroyed the Austrian army.
Perhaps ! j But who can say with certainty that what
might have been would have been? The result of the
day was that a superior Austrian army was, like those of
Mack at Ulm and Bazaine at Metz, shut up in a city from
which it could not issue, and that by an army inferior in
number. The original plan of campaign had named the
6th May for the defeat of the Austrians, and if Schwerin
were a day late, the fiat of Jove must stand none the less.
It is true that Daun was near — within three marches — but
on this and other occasions was abundantly shown a certain
rugged obstinacy — shall we say pig-headedness ? — of Frede-
rick. He was a great man and a great soldier. Why
pretend that he was free from human faults 1

The Prussian losses in the battle are variously estimated.
Frederick himself gives 18,000; Carlyle, 12,500; Jomini,
13,700 ; and so on. Probably Carlyle is more nearly right
than the others. Frederick says that the Austrians lost
24,000 ; Carlyle, who has diligently ransacked his much-

LESSON OF PRAGUE. 141

1757.

maligned " Dryasdust " records, put their loss at 13,000
only. We have seen that the battle, though bloody at
points, was only partial, a great part of the forces on either
side not being engaged, and Prague being handy for shelter
to the Austrians.

rTThe one great lesson — and it is of mtal importance to
Enjglishmen — which we may draw from, this battle is, that an
army immovably fixed in one position which has extremities
not resting on impassable barriers may always be attacked
and defeated on one of those extremities. Only by offensive
manoeuvres is success possible, i The enem,y must be beaten,
not merely repulsed. The idea, too prevalent in this country,
that England could be successfully defended by unskilled
militia and volunteers taking up a series of positions is a vain
imagination, natural to minds bent upon bricks and m,ortar, hut
rejected by all Tnasters of strategy and tactics. And the same
rule applies to the defence of other countries, such as TurTceyTl

CHAPTEll XII.
CAMPAIGN OP 1757 {continued). — battle of kolin. — siege

OF PRAGUE RAISED.

A.D. 1757.

1757.

The Austrian army now caged in Prague numbered
46,000 men, and Frederick hoped to make them yield
quickly, while their spirits were still depressed by their
defeat. He sent the Duke of Brunswick Bevern, with
20,000 to watch Daun, who had about double that strength.
Colonel Mayer, a clever leader of " Free Corps," was beat-
ing up the quarters of the Reich, captured a great magazine
in the Upper Palatinate, and laid the rich towns under
contribution, though he had only some 1,300 foot soldiers
and 200 horse with five guns. The Free Corps were
Frederick's answer to the Hungarian and Croat irregulars.
Recruited from all parts, deserters from other armies, and
volunteers attracted by the fame of the great king, they
were kept under strict discipline and well commanded.
Some plunder was permitted them, but no cruelty. Poor
Wilhelmina, always watching her brother's exploits
and dangers with passionate rejoicing or tears of
terror and mortification, decorated Colonel Mayer with
her " Order of Sincerity and Fidelity " when he passed

SIEGE OF PRAGUE. 143

5th Aprn-29th May 1757.

Baireuth. She could do little for the companion of her
childhood but sympathise and honour his servants, and this
she did with unvarying love and truth. Would that space
permitted quotations from her letters, which tell in every
line womanly devotion, and wrath that she is helpless to
protect.

Weeks rolled on, and the Prussians still sat before the
city. The provisions held out, and bombardment was of
no effect. Browne was dying of his wound, and no
Austrian General was found to risk a grand sally from
the place. Daun, with the Fabian policy natural to his
character, held back and watched events. In Hanover, the
Duke of Cumberland, though incompetent, stood with his
50,000 to 60,000, awaiting French attack, which came not.
The battle of Prague had scared Austria's allies. England

s in her usual state of indecision, and, for the time, the
panic-mongers had the best ear of the country. Pitt, after
four months' office, had been dismissed by the King of
England himself on the 5th April, two days before the
Boyal Highness of Cumberland sailed to take command in
Hanover. Feebleness prevailed in America, where Lord
Loudon commanded. A blow was necessary for Frederick's
interests. Still Prague would not" "fall'. VThe- garrison
offered indeed to give up the city, on condition of free
withdrawal, but this was the least to be desired of all issues
for the Prussian cause. Sallies were made, the heaviest
with 10,000 men, but beaten back. On the 29th May a great
storm broke the Prussian bridges, and thus cut the army in
two. Fearing that the enemy would take advantage of the
chance, the king ordered a bombardment of the city. For
six hours after the storm the air rained red-hot shot and
55hell. The town was fired in several places, houses fell
with sudden crash, and above all the infernal din rose the

144 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

12th 18th June 1757.

" Weh-Elagen " (cry of woe) of the miserable townsfolk,
9,000 of whom perished in this siege. That cry would
seem to have penetrated to Vienna, for, shortly afterwards,
strict orders were sent to Daun to attempt the relief of the
city. ' ' ,

'^Daun's army had been reinforced to a strength of
60,000, partly by the fugitives from the late battle, and
the garrison of Prague was now 40,000 strong — total,
100,000. The Prussians were in all about two-thirds that
number. On the 12 th June Daun sent messengers to
Prague, promising to attack on the 20th, and asking the
garrison to sally out to his help. The king had wind of
the movement, and at once decided to meet the Austrian
general on his way. Taking 10,000 from the beleaguering
force, and ordering another 4,000 under Prince Moritz to
follow in two days, Frederick started to join Brunswick
Beverne on the 13th, and found him at Kaurzim, thirty-five
miles from Prague, the same evening. Unknown to the
Prussians, Daun lay only three miles off that night. Of
course Daun, veiled by clouds of irregulars, sat down and
fortified. Equally of course, Frederick decided to attack
him, but first must wait for his 4,000 men from Prague,
and for that plague of armies in those days, baked bread
from distant ovens. Manoeuvres of little interest ensued
till, on the 18th June, the king's army, marching in two
columns along the Kolin highway and to north of it, caught
sight of the Austrians drawn up in a defensive position
near Kolin and facing north. Daun was 60,000 strong ;
Frederick about 34,000, of which nearly 18,000 were
cavalry. The Austrians had about 180 guns, the Prussians
about 100.

The Austrian position will be understood by a glance at
the map. It is only necessary to say that the hills are

BATTLE OF KOLIN. 145

18th June 1757.

not high, the slopes are gentle/ and the brooks, though
small, have cut for themselves during the ages deep
channels with swampy bottoms. Daun's left wing, thrown
back en potence, was well protected by the ground ; the
centre was in the open, but had several small villages in
front of it strengthened by the military art, sown with
guns in battery, and protected in front by Croat sharp-
shooters in the standing corn. The right flank rested on
the brook which flows into Kolin, and had the village of
Kreczor^ for its advanced post. Half a mile behind the
village was an oak wood. Nadasti, with the cavalry, was
on a hill to the right front of Kreczor. The position was
better than usual, because Daun had apparently been
unable to find that false refuge of timid generals, an
impassable obstacle running all along the front. The
Austrian army was about five miles long from flank to
flank, and formed in two lines, with a reserve in rear
of the centre.

Frederick, reconnoitring, decided to repeat the movement
which had succeeded at the battle of Prague. Rightly
judging that Daun would maintain his defensive attitude,
the king once more made his dispositions for attack in
oblique order. The whole army, thrown into two columns
to the left, marched close to the Kolin road. Ziethen led
with nearly 10,000 cavalry, his orders being to get rid of
Nadasti, and, after passing Radowesnitz, to sweep round on
the favourable ground and deliver a decisive blow on the
right rear of the Austrians, who, the king rightly judged,
would be inert for all manceuvring purposes as an ox
before a butcher. Hlilsen followed with the vanguard of
the infantry. He was to wheel up to the right and attack

^ Actually Krzeczhorz, too dimly suggestive of any possible pro-
nunciation.

146 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

18th June 1757.

Kreczor, supported by the fresh troops ever arriving.
Thus the infantry would begin the pressure on the Aus-
trian right, which would be accelerated by more infantry,
and converted by the cavalry attack into a crushing blow.

But the success of this manoeuvre, as of all which depend
upon the oblique order, demanded that the columns should
indeed march on, unchecked, and accumulate their numbers
on the decisive point. Otherwise there were no obedience
to the master law of all tactics, the rule to bring superior
forces of your own army against inferior forces of the enemy
at the right time and place.

The movement of the Prussian army was easily perceived
by Daun. It was plain that his right flank was menaced,
and he hastened to strengthen it by placing a battery of
eighteen guns from the reserve on the left of Kreczor, and
throwing four battalions of the line into the oak wood to
support an unknown number of Croats already there,
Hiilsen, advancing in due time to the attack of Kreczor,
was received by the fire of the 18 -gun battery, suffered
heavy losses, and was checked. The king pushed on three
battalions of grenadiers rapidly to his aid. They suffered
from the artillery fire in coming up, and Hiilsen, finding
that nothing could be done in face of those guns, wisely
overwhelmed the battery with eight battalions, and carried it.
The village of Kreczor also fell into his hands, and with it
seven out of the eight battalion guns then present with
the infantry.* Ziethen, who had already chased Nadasti
from the field, endeavoured to wheel round the oak wood,

^ Carlyle speaks of two batteries, but it may be said once for all
that he paid very little attention to the doings of artillery in Frederick's
battles. The Prussian artillery was generally inferior and badly handled,
and the work of that arm is slurred over in most Prussian accounts.
Not till later did Frederick learn the value and the use of field
artniery.

BATTLE OF KOLIN. 147

18th June 1757.

but was taken in flank by the battalion guns posted there,
and could by no means either pass the wood or drive the
enemy out of it. Again and again he led his cavalry
forward, but was always repulsed. He had no guns to
reply with, for horse artillery was not yet invented ; and
Hulsen, who had only four guns at the front, had been
obliged to send his chief force — eight battalions — to capture
the 18-gun battery ; so that he had only two grenadier
battalions available to attack the wood, which now contained
four Austrian battalions besides Croats.

Here then were the advanced guard of the army and
10,000 cavalry, constituting between them about half the
force, checked, after early victory, for lack of a few guns.
And, as time is of the essence of success in the oblique
order, the battle was already in danger of being lost.
Hulsen looked to be speedily reinforced, but no help came.
For hours he struggled and Ziethen struggled to carry the
oak wood, always expecting help. None ever came.

The chances of war are often so closely balanced, while
such great results hang upon them, that men come to
ascribe to blind "Fate," or "Luck," apparent accidents
which are in truth due to human imperfection. Two such
events occurred on this day. The first of them has ahvays
been well known. Hot Mannstein, whose breach of arrange-
ments had succeeded so well during the battle of Prague,
felt, like the leaders who preceded him in the march, the
irritating fire of the Croats in the corn. But, unlike his
predecessors, he forgot how much depended on strict
accuracy of march to support the advance, and that every
regiment was ordered to govern its movements by the one
in front of it. Fiery Mannstein could not bear the insult
of Croats treading on his skirts, and shouted to his men,
" Clear away those Croats." The regiment turned to its

L 2

148 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

16th June 1757.

right and drove away the sharpshooters, who, retreating on
reinforcements, led Mannstein clean away from his duty,
and, as it seemed to the regiments behind, into an advance
against the front of the Austrian army. All the rear of
Frederick's force followed the evil example, thinking that
a new order had come ; and thus, while Hulsen was strug-
ling and praying for reinforcements, a large portion of the
infantry broke off from the column and attacked on their
own account in another part of the field. The army, already
too small, split itself into parts, each of which was of no
help to the other.

But Mannstein was not immediately behind HUlsen.
The troops of Prince Moritz came between. How was it
that Hulsen was not supported even by these % For this
Frederick was in fault, led away by that imperious temper
which flamed into maddening wrath under contradiction.
Seeing that Hulsen was in the way of success, and that he
had taken the 18-gun battery, the king rode down to
Moritz and ordered him to wheel up to the right. He
probably meant half right, which would have put the force
in echelon and on a short cut to Kreczor. Moritz under-
stood the king to mean a direct wheel up to the right,
which would bring the column into line, right in front of the
Austrian heavy batteries and strong forces of infantry.
Moritz protested, but the son of the king who wielded the
rattan blazed into fiery heat, and, flashing out his sword
from its scabbard, thundered forth, "Will you obey
orders?" Moritz gloomily gave the order, and started
on a course which would lead him far away from Hiilsen.
Frederick returned to the height whence he was watching
the battle, and presently saw that Moritz was wandering
away from the point intended. He instantly sent the order,
*' Half left." Moritz, gloomy in spirit, obeyed exactly, as

BATTLE OF KOLIN. 149

18th June 1757.

on the drill-ground, and the half left, coming then too late,
did not take him to Hiilsen's help, but short of him, to a
point in front of the Austrian army quite separate from
either of the other attacks. Thus then the projected con-
centrated attack on the Austrian right had fallen into one
attack on the right, checked for want of guns, and two
isolated attacks on the enemy's front, with an inferior
force and against well-posted heavy batteries, as well as
numerous infantry. The Prussian troops fought splen-
didly, but no daring of the men could atone for the bad
"luck" or bad temper which had thrown the advantages
away. Yet, Frederick being what he was, and Daun
oppressed by dread of him, the fate of the battle once
more hung on the turn of a hair. While the king was in
the thick of the fight, striving, urging, commanding, Daun
began to calculate what would become of his army if it
were driven down the Kamhayek heights into the swampy
ground at the bottom, and, from calculation, came to order-
ing a retreat in another direction, to Suchdol. Some of
the troops were actually retiring in obedience to the order,
when an -aide-de-camp failed to find General Nostitz, who
commanded the Saxon horse — a remnant saved from the
Pirna catastrophe by absence at Warsaw. Colonel Ben-
kendorf offered to take the order to Nostitz, but, peeping
into it on the way, thought to have one good stroke first.
He persuaded Nostitz to the same opinion, and together
they assembled horse and foot and led them against Hiilsen.
There was a furious melee, a struggle body to body, and at
last the wearied Prussians were driven back down hill.
Both the other attacks had been torn to pieces by the fire
of the Austrian batteries, and Hiilsen's retreat was signal
enough. The whole line fell back, wrestling still for a
time, and the battle of Kolin was at an end. A feeble

150 FREDERICK TEE GREAT.

lStli-19th Tune 1757.
attempt on Daun's part to pursue with cavalry from the
left was checked by the steadiness of Mannstein's infantry,
which during the whole affair lost half its strength ; but
the Austrian general dared not move a single regiment of
infantry from the defensive position, though he had nearly
twice the Prussian power. The Prussian cavalry was
allowed to stand quiet on the field till ten at night, and,
after keeping his army all night under arms, Daun retired
next day to his old camp, though he could see the Prussian
baggage in dire confusion behind Kaurzim and Planian,
with only one battalion to guard it. Thus are advantages
thrown away by the timid.

The Austrians had lost only 8,114 out of 60,000. The
Prussians 13,773 out of 34,000, all the wounded falling as
prisoners into the hands of the enemy, together with forty-
five guns and twenty-two flags*

rThe Prussian i ; retreat was on Nimburg, to cross the
Elbe there — a march of fifteen miles. Next morning,
Frederick saw gather round him the wreck of his
splendid infantry : Schwerin gone at Prague ; at least
26,000 men lost in two battles, the second of which snat<;hed
from before the king's eyes the fruit he had all but gathered
from the first. He sat moody, writing with a stick in the
sand. But when- he saw his own first battalion of Life
Guards pass him, every man known to him by name, and
could count but 400 left out of the 1,000 who went into battle
yesterday, his face grew wet with silent tears. Soon rouS'
ing himself y^ he despatched orders with regard to raising the
siege of Prague (the first order had been sent from the
battle field), and himself followed the messengers to head-
quarters there. The operation was conducted in a masterly
way, without any loss. Marshal Keith being the lastjj>
leave. The siege equipment was sent to Dresden.]

DEATH OF THE QUEEN MOTHER, 151

26th.28th Jane 1757.

Frederick, witli the. Ziscaberg force, moved eastward to
Alt Lissa to lend a hand to the relics of the Kolin army
now at Nimburg. Keith moved by Budin to Leitmeritz,
where the rest of the Prague army joined him on
the 28th — the king with them — Prince Moritz, with the
Kolin army, halting at Alt Lissa as a rearguard to check
Daun, then moving to Jung Bunzlau. The slow Austrians,
Prince Karl and Daun, after much rejoicing in the Te Deum
way, concentrated on the Prague battle-field on the 26th,
having done nothing to hinder the difficult task of the
king, except with an irregular force under Loudon.

/!2r heavier loss than that of a battle to the king, fell at
this time on Frederick, the maa. On the 28th, the day of_
the concentration with KeiOTJthe tender mother, Queen-
Mother as he had christened her, whose breast had been his
refuge from his childhood's woes, and in whose presence,
when king, he never stood but hat in hand, died at Berlin.
When the news reached him at Leitmeritz, he gave vent to
the keenness of his grief in frequent solitude. Fortunately,
Mitchell, an Englishman of heart, was there to tell of the
human suffering of him whom men called " Great," of the
tears he shed, and his recalling the goodness of his mother,
her sweetness to him, and her sufferings with and for him.
It was of this time that he said afterwards, (^I have
been unha^pier than others because I possessed greater
sensibility ►"'^

CHAPTER XIIL

CAMPAIGN OF 1757 {continued). — ill fortune pursues

FREDERICK. THE DISASTER OF THE PRINCE OF PRUSSIA AT

ZITTAU. THE KING MARCHES AGAINST THE DAUPHINESS'

ARMY, WHICH AVOIDS HIM. — RETREAT OF BEVERN. COR-
RESPONDENCE WITH WILHELMINA. RAID ON BERLIN.

RUSSIANS GO HOME.

June-Oct. 1757.

1757.

The battle of Prague had caused a lull in tlie proceedings
of the various allies, who waited to see " "What next ? " But
/the king's disaster at Kolin enlivened their spirits, and
lE^ prepared to inclose the Prussian army in a ring of
fire>N Even the Reich's army cheered up and arranged to
jointhe French for operations in North Germany. It was
commanded by the Prince of Hildburghausen, and had for
second in commaiid the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, who
had lately been one of Frederick's generals, and had a post
under Keith when he lay on the Weissenberg. Tho
Reich's army was for field purposes about 25,000 strong,
and was reinforced a little later by an Austrian force of
8,000— total 33,000 men.

(^The French king, urged by the strong will of the Pompa-
dour and the tears of the Dauphiness, drew from his suffer-
ing subjects the men and money to equip another army

PRINCE OF PRUSSIA SUCCEEDS MORITZ. 153

8rd-9th July 1757.

under Soubise, about 30,000 strong. Its mission was to
unite with the Eeich's army, and reconquer Saxony. It
was called ** VArmee de la Dauphine." The French army
already in the field under D'Estr^es captured Embden on
the 3rd July, and, being about 60,000 strong after dropping
garrisons, with 10,000 more to be picked up on the way,
marched on the 9 th July against the Duke of Cumberland,
who retired before it.

[Even the Russians took heart of grace at last and crossed
the border on the 30th June, 37,000 of them to besiege
Memel, which was bombarded by land and sea, and fell on
the 5th July ; and 70,000 of them in the Tilsit country,
where Lehwald, .^Yfi^y weak in men, could not be expected
to stop them^(.The Swedes declared war and threatened
Pomerania with 17,000 men, but the,*g¥eatest and nearest
danger was, for the time, from the side of the Austrians,
who being now united^ Prince Charles and Daun together,
'wefe'nianoeuvring in the neighbourhood with 70,000 men.
Their intention was to avoid the king's force if possible,
and to attack the old Kolin army which was now under
command of August Wilhelm, Prince of Prussia, Frederick's
brother. This prince is chiefly known by his constant
attitude of opposition to the king, whose measures he
criticised with little reticence. The opposition of an heir
apparent is common and of slight detriment in political
life, perhaps even useful in countries without a parlia-
mentary government. But opposition in war, combined
with self-conceit, may be fatal ; and it is strange that
Frederick should supersede the well-tried Moritz for ask-
ing whether he had not better retreat on Silesia, and
should appoint in his place a brother who had shown
no military capacity, and was not quite loyal in supporting
the measures of the king. Frederick gave him as a coun-

154 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Ist.l4th July 1757.

seller the well-tried Winterfeld, and he had besides,
Ziethen, Schmettau (his own favourite), Fouquet, Ketzowp
and Goltz, all more or less jealous of Winterfeld — too
many counsellors for an indifferent general,

At^ the end of June the prince was in command at
Jung Buntzlau. On 1st July the Austrians crossed the
Elbe above Brandeis ; Nadasti, with clouds of cavalry and
light troops, being pushed close to the prince's army, who,
3rd July, retired to Neuschloss, a good position, and nearer
the king. Kadasti still pressing, the prince fell back, 7th
July, to Bohm-Leipa, further from the king's force at
Leitmeritz, but one march nearer his magazines, which were
at Zittau. , Gabel and other posts on the cross country
roads which led from Bohm-Leipa to Zittau were held by
detachments. On the same day the Austrian main army
arrived at Miinchengratz through Jung Buntzlau, and
afterwards moved slowly by Liebenau to Niemes, thus
working round the Prussian left flank. They arrived at
Niemes on the 14th, and on that day IsTadasti, who pre-
ceded them, attacked Gabel in the evening, defended by
General Puttkammer with 3,000 men, the escort of a re-
turn convoy on its way to Zittau. The cannon-thunder
was heard at Bohm-Leipa. The magazines at Zittau were
known to be in danger, and the prince called a council of
war, that refuge of the timid which " never fights."

Three courses suggested themselves. First, to retreat on
Leitmeritz, and brave the angry remonstrances of the king,
who had already found fault with the constant retirements
of the prince. Second, the boldest, to march on Gabel and
help Puttkammer, covering Zittau and the line of retreat
Once at Gabel, there was a good road to Zittau. Both
these measures demanded decision. The one might lead to
^ For these manoeuvres see small map above Battle of Prague.

BLUNDERS OF THE PRINCE. 155

16th-24th July 1757.

censure, the other to a battle. Winterfeld, exhausted by
his toils, was asleep and did not attend the council of war,
which, in his absence, decided on a third and the worst pos-
sible course. The decision was to march on Zittau by-
circuitous roads, by Kamnitz, Kreywitz, Rumburg, leaving
Gabel and the rest to their fate. To Gabel direct was only
jSfteen miles by country road, thence to Zittau another
fifteen on a high road. The route selected was between
twice and thrice as far, while the Austrian main body
would have high road all the way to Zittau.

The march began in the first morning hours of the 1 6th
July, and on the 22nd the prince, who, harassed by
light troops in the hills, lost his pontoons, most ot his
baggage and food supplies, arrived in sight of Zittau only
to dnd the Austrian army lying to northward of the place,
having seized the commanding position of the Eckartsberg.
He had to look down on a town cruelly bombarded by
Prince Charles, cruelly because it was not a fortress and
the bombardment was intended to burn the town, not to
destroy fortifications, and by no means could he enter
the place or draw stores from his magazine. A detach-
ment sent for that purpose next day returned, having
failed to procure more than a small quantity of food. £T)n i
the 24th the Prince of Prussia retired on Lobau, leaving '
open the^wiy to either Saxony or Silesia, as Prince Charles
might choose.^

This movement has been described to show how generals
should not make war, and with what difficulties a great com-
mander has to contend because he cannot infuse his own
spirit into his subordinates^TTd undo the past was impos-
sible, but Frederick, as soon as he heard of the ill-judged
march, started ; leaving Keith to bring on the magazines,
and Moritz of Dessau, with 10,000 men, to secure the passes

156 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

26th July 1757.

about Pirna. He arrived at Bautzen on the 29th, would
not speak to his brother at first, and sent a message that
he and the generals who had advised him deserved a court-
martial. The prince asked permission to retire to Dresden,
which was accorded. He never commanded in the field
again, and died about a year afterwards, 12th June, 1758,
partly of chagrin.

Other bad news reached the king at this time. The
action known as the battle of Hastenbeck, fought between
the Duke of Cumberland and D'Estrees, was one of the
most absurd in history. The Duke, who had been gradually
retreating, at last took heart and posted himself
behind Hastenbeck on the 22nd July (the day when the
Prince of Prussia came in sight of the Austrians at Zittau),
with his right wing resting on a swamp near the Weser,
and his left on a wooded knoll. On the 26th D'Estrees
attacked, knowing only a portion of the duke's position.
He sent General Chevert against the duke's left on the
knoll, which was attacked in front with some success.
General Breitenbach, on the duke's side, was posted with a
small detachment in a hollow behind the knoll, and, re-
ceiving no orders, threw himself boldly against Chevert' s
flank, recovered a battery which had been captured, and
generally threw Chevert into confusion. With the least
support to Breitenbach the battle was the duke's, but that
commander was not at hand, and no one dared to act in his
absence. Indeed he thought that Breitenbach' s attack was
a fresh French onslaught, and accordingly ordered a retreat.
The Brunswick grenadiers who had fought so well wept
with rage, but obeyed. D'Estrees also ordered retreat
because of Breitenbach' s charge. So then the unauthorised
action of a small detachment caused both generals to order
retreat, only ^the duke's forces were the first to go.

CONVENTION OF KLOSTER-ZEVEN 157

July 1757.

^\Tfiey were directed to retire to Haiiover, but, as the bag-
gage happened to go to Minden by mistake, the whole army
followed. As there was no strategy in the case, it mattered
little which way the march turned. Only, Hanover might
in some sort be said to cover Berlin and lend a hand to
Frederick, while Minden covered nothing, and the duke,
once on his way, taught he might as well retire by Bremen
and Stade to the sea.\ D'Estrees had 72,000 men, the Duke
of Cumberland 4D,000, but, as neither made any use of the
bulk of his force, the comparative strength of the two armies
had nothing to do with success or failure. If the duke had
gone to sleep or fallen down in a fit, the battle would pro-

• bably have been a victory to him. The allies lost 3,500
men, the French 2,000.

The Due de Kichelieu was sent to supersede D'Estrees,
and the other Duke, of Cumberland, concluded with him
the Convention of Kloster-Zeven, by which the Anglo-
Hanoverian army was to break up and go home without
molestatio», the French engaging to make no more war in
those parts. The convention crowned the absurdity of the
battle, for, though the generals signed it, both govern-
ments, France first, refused to ratify it. The Duke of
Cumberland returned to England on the 5th October, to
hear his father say, " Here is my son, who has ruined me
and disgraced himself." But, three days after Hastenbeck,
29th July, Pitt came into power, and held it long enough
to make English campaigns the reverse of ruinous. Of this
more hereafter.

r The first weeks after the collapse of the Prince of
Prussia were spent by Frederick in striving to draw the
Austrians into a battle, but they clung to an unassailable
position on the Eckartsberg, and would not move, even
though the king divided his army and attacked Nadasti

153 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

25tli Aug. -13th Sept 1757.

with a division to tempt them. At length, 25th August,
he marched with one division to see what could be done
against Soubise and the Reich's army, leaving Bevern and
Winterfeld to entertain the Austrians in his absence. At
Dresden he picked up Moritz, who had been in the Pirna
country, and his combined force now counted 23,000 men,
with whom to strike a blow against the Dauphiness' army,
which now lay 170 miles due east, about Got ha and Erfurt.
If the Convention of Kloster-Zeven were to hold good, the
D'Estrees army now under Kichelieu might join the Dau-
phiness' army, and between them meet Frederick with
150,000 men. All therefore depended upon speed? ('

During the march, Frederick heard that his best general
and closest friend, Winterfeld, had been killed in a skirmish,
7th September, and that Bevern, three days later, had
retired on Silesia, with Prince Charles and Daun in pursuit
of him. Bitterer blows fate could not deal him, short of
losing his beloved ^ilhelmina, who was at the tipae wild with
anxiety for her brother, and moving heaven and earth to
bring about a peace with the French._j At her pressing
request Frederick did write to Richelieu, who tried but
failed to move the women in Paris. They, more than any
others, sustained the passion against Prussia, and forced
money and tears from the people to build up armies.
Richelieu was not very dangerous to Frederick. He had
sought command for the sake of what he could make by it,
and he managed during his one campaign to pay off £50,000
of debts in Paris.

The movement of 170 miles from Dresden occupied
twelve days — 1st to 13th September. It was not con-
sidered as a forced march, and we may judge from it that
a fair average marching pace of the Prussian army, in-
cluding halts and neglecting no precautions, was about

FREDERICK MARCHES EAST. 159

1757.

fourteen miles a day. This is good inarching and manage-
ment, and compares favourably with the allied concentra-
tion on Prague in 1741, when the force which had to march
farthest, and therefore quickest, only covered nine miles
a day. Arrived at Erfurt, another disappointment awaited
him. The Dauphiness' army, with all its grand mission,
and feminine enthusiasm at the back of it, would not fight,
but retired to the hills in a westerly direction. The king
sent Moritz to Torgau and Ferdinand to Magdeburg to
watch Richelieu. Eichelieu pressed slowly on and occupied
Halberstadt, while Moritz was soon called upon for action
in quite another direction.

During the period of forced inactivity which ensued,
Frederick wrote much, both in prose and verseXHis letters
to Wilhelmina show that hei. believed the condrEion of his
affairs to be nearly desperate. In addition to the nearness
of two armies, each more than double his owp, strength,
and to the threatened inroads of the Swedes,^ilesia, the _
main object of the war, was now invaded by the Austrians, \
and, worst of- all, Apraxin, with the Russian army, had
Prussia herself at his feet. \ The regular Russian troops
behaved well and were utfder discipline, but the Cossacks
and Calmucks, then untrained to obedience, committed
frightful excesses and cruelties. Lehwald, whom the king
ordered to attack the Russians at all hazards though he had
only 25,000 to their 80,000, suffered a defeat at Gross-
Jagersdorf, and the road to Berlin was open to Apraxin
with his horrible irregulars. All seemed lost but libert^y,
and the king determined to die ere he would part with
that. •

He wrote to Wilhelmina in a lofty strain of melancholy,
telling her that he would do all he could, but would not
live to see the catastrophe which would befall his kingdom

160 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1757.

when once the reins of guidance were certainly gone from
his hands. / Even in this terrible crisis, when blow after
blow fell onthe loving^^ilhelmina, the ring of her battered
soul was ever true and noble. Full of effort in his cause,
moving even Yoltaire to help towards peace, she wrote to
her brother words of sympathy, hope, and good counsel*
Amid the trickeries of courts and the cruelties of war, one
lingers over the true-hearted correspondence between these
companions of childhood. )

Frederick's first letter on these topics was in verse, and
is well known as the Ejntre cb ma Soeur. It was written
just before his march to Erfurt, and dated 24th August,
1757. It begins, " sweet and dear hope of my remaining
days : O sister, whose friendship, so fertile in resources,
shares all my sorrows, and with helpful arm assists me in
the gulf ! " It reviews the past with its combinations,
successes, failures, and final gatherings against him, and
apostrophises his people as his most anxious care. " And
thou, loved people, whose happiness is my charge, it is thy
lamentable destiny, it is the danger that hangs over thee
which pierces my soul." He speaks in tender, mournful
strain of his mother's death, and ends with that defiance of
the Heavens which has been through all time the note of
a strong man's last challenge when falling into despair :
" And if there do exist some gloomy and inexorable Being,
who allows a despised herd of creatures to go on multiply-
ing here, he values them as nothing ; looks down on a
Phalaris crowned, on a Socrates in chains ; on our virtues
our misdeeds, on the horrors of war, and all the cruel
plagues which ravage earth, as a thing indifferent to him.
Wherefore, loved sister, my sole refuge and only haven is
in the arms of death."

On the 12th September, "Wilhelmina, in a letter to

BROTHER AND SISTER, 161

IVtli Sept. 1757.

Voltaire, whom she is persuading to use his influence for
peace, says : —

To me there remains nothing but to follow his destiny if it is
unfortunate. I have never piqued myself on being a philosopher ;
though I have made efforts to become so. The small progress I
made did teach me to despise grandeur and riches ; but I could
never find in philosophy any cure for the wounds of the heart,
except that of ending with our miseries by ceasing to live. The
state I am in is worse than death, I see the greatest man of the
age, my brother, my friend, reduced to the most frightful ex-
tremity. I see my whole family exposed to dangers and perhaps
destruction ; my native country torn by pitiless enemies ; the
country where I am menaced by perhaps similar misfortune.
.... You would sigh if you knew the sad condition of Germany
and Prussia. The cruelties which the Russians commit in that
latter country make nature shudder. How happy you in your
hermitage, where you repose on your laurels and can philosophise
with a calm mind on the deliriums of men 1

On the 17th September Frederick writes to Wilhelmina
from near Erfurt : —

My dearest Sister, — I find no other consolation but in your
precious letters. May Heaven reward so much virtue and such
heroic sentiments.

Since I last wrote to you, my misfortunes have gone on accu-
mulating. (Here he details the troubles which we know.)
Happen what may, I am determined, at all risks, to fall upon
whatever corps of the enemy approaches me nearest. I shall
even bless Heaven for its mercy if it grant me the favour to die
Bword in hand. ... A Bavarian elector in his nonage may
submit to Austria. But is that the example for me to
follow ? No, dear sister, you think too nobly to give me such
cowardly advice. Is liberty, that precious prerogative, to be less
dear to a sovereign in the eighteenth century than it was to
Koman patricians of old ? . . . .

M

162 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Sept. 1757.

Speaking of Kolin, he says that after the battle he made

it a point of honour to straighten all that had gone crooked.

But, no sooner had I hastened here to face new enemies, than
Winterfeld was beaten and killed near Gorlitz, than the French
entered the heart of my states, than the Swedes blockaded Stettin.
Now, there is nothing left for me to do : there are too many
enemies. Were I even to succeed in beating two armies, the
third would crush me. The inclosed note (in cipher) will show
you what I am still about to try : it is the last attempt. . . .

But it is time to end this long, dreary letter, which treats
almost of nothing but my own affairs. I have had some leisure,
and have used it to open on you a heart filled with admiration
and gratitude towards you. Yes, my adorable sister, if Pro-
vidence troubled itself about human affairs, you ought to be
the happiest person in the universe. Your not being so confirms
me in the sentiments expressed at the end of my Epitre (the
defiance of Heaven). In conclusion, believe that I adore you,
and that I would give my life a thousand times to serve you.

One more letter from Wilhelmina, and a last writing of
Frederick. Wilhelmina' s was written ,on 15th September,
two days before the letter of her brother, just quoted.
Frederick's last was written 9th October, just as a pro-
spect of hard work was appearing.

Wilhelmina writes, Baireuth, 15th September, 1757 : —

My dearest Brother, — Your letter and the one you wrote
to Voltaire, my dear brother, have almost killed me. What fatal
resolutions^ Great God ! Ah, my dear brother, you say you love
me ; and you drive a dagger into my heart. Your Epitre^ which
I did receive, made me shed rivers of tears. I am now ashamed
of such weakness. My misfortune would be so great that I
should find worthier resources than tears. Your lot shall be
mine : I will not survive either your misfortunes or those of the
house I belong to. You may calculate that such is my firjn
resolution.

CORRESPONDENCE. ]C3

Oct. 1757.

But, after this avowal, allow me to entreat you to look back at
what was the pitiable state of your enemy when you lay before
Prague ! It is the sudden whirl of Fortune for both parties.
The like can occur again, when one is least expecting it, Caesar
was the slave of pirates ; and he became master of the world.
A great genius like yours finds resources even when all is lost ,;
and it is impossible this frenzy can continue. My heart bleeds
to think of the poor souls in Prussia. What horrid barbarity,
the detail of cruelties which go on there I I feel all that you feel
on it, my dear brother. I know your heart and your sensibility
for your subjects.

I suffer a thousand times more than I can tell you ; neverthe-
less, hope does not abandon me. I received your letter of the
14th. What kindness to think of me, who have nothing to
give you but a useless affection, which is so richly repaid by
yours I I am obliged to finish ; but I shall never cease to be,
with the most profound respect.

Your

WiLHELMINA.

Then for our last quotation let us take Frederick's re-
marks on "Voltaire's safe advice from his hermitage ; advice
more likely, one would think, to irritate than soothe the
king ; for it assumes as quite possible that his kingdom
may be divided and he himself become a captive.

On the 9th October Frederick wrote : —

I know the ennui attending on honours, the burdensome duties,
the jargon of grinning flatterers, those pitiabilities of every kind,
those details of littleness, with which you have to occupy your-
self if set on high on the stage of things. Foolish glory had no
charm for me, though a poet and a king (remark that he puts
poet before king). When once Atropos has ended me for ever,
what will the uncertain honour of living in the temple of Memory
avail ? One moment of practical happiness is worth a thousand
years of imaginary in such temple. Is the lot of high people
so very sweet then? Pleasure, gentle ease, true and hearty

M 2

164 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Oct. 1757.

mirth, have always fled from the great and their peculiar pomps
and labours.

No, it is not fickle Fortune that has ever caused my sorrows ;
let her smile her blandest, let her frown her fiercest on me, I
should sleep every night, refusing her the least worship. But
our respective conditions are our law ; we are bound and com-
manded to shape our temper to the employment we have under-
taken. Voltaire in his hermitage, in a country where is honesty
and safety, can devote himself in peace to the life of the
philosopher as Plato has described it. But, as for me, threatened
with shipwreck, I must consider how, looking the tempest in the
face, I can think, can live, and can die as a king.

Two days after this was written, there arrived a message
from Dresden, with the news that an Austrian force, left
behind when Prince Charles and Daun pursued Bevern into
Silesia, was marching directly upon Berlin. The king sup_
posed this to be part of a combined movement, which would
include the Swedes and probably E-ichelieu's army. He
ordered Moritz off at once, and followed as soon as he could
make arrangements. Work seems to have calmed his
mind ; it is now he who encourages Wilhelmina ; she,
poor soul, writing desperately that ske has heard he is ill
or killed.

The passage through the valley of the shadow of death
was now over. (There was no combination to attack Berlin.
The city was entered and placed under slight contribution,
but the Austrians were gone before Moritz could reach
them. Apraxin with his Cossacks retired to Russia, pro-
bably on rumour that the Czarina was dead — an event
which would place on the throne Paul, a friend and admirer
of Frederick. Thus Lehwald was released to attend to
the Swedes. Better than all these smiles of fortune was
the news brought by Count von Schulenburg, a Hanoverian
general, who arrived in plain clothes, to the astonishment

ENGLAND'S " GREAT MANJ'

165

175?.

of all, that England had renounced the Convention of
Kloster-Zeven, would put the army again in the field, and
requested King Frederick to grant Duke Ferdinand of (
Brunswick to be general of the same. It was now that
Frederick exclaimed to the English envoy, Mitchell :
" England has taken long to produce a grea^t^ man ; but
here is one at last ! " That great man was Pitt.

CHAPTER XIV.
CAMPAIGN OF 1767 {continued). — battle op rossbach. —

MARCH TO SILESIA. BATTLE OP LEUTHEN.

a.d. 1757.

• 80th Oct. 1757.

The raid on Berlin, barren as it was in practical result,
caused great rejoicing among all Frederick's enemies. The
Dauphiness' army was dii-ected to draw 15,000 men from
Kichelieu's command, and, under pressing orders from
Versailles, advanced as far as Leipzig. Keith, who held
the town with a small force, refused to evacuate it, saying
that he would burn the suburbs. In the moment of hesi-
tation news came to Soubise that the king was at hand.
Strong as he was in men, the French general fell back, and
it seemed as if the terrible game of delay were about to be
played again. In such a game Frederick, whose only hope
lay in staking his all on a battle, could not but lose.

On the 30th October Frederick, with his advanced guard,
arrived at Liitzen, Keith and Duke Ferdinand following
with the main body and rear guard. Moritz also had come
in from his Berlin trip. On the enemy's part, Broglio,
second son of the old marshal, with 15,000 men from
Kichelieu's army, was at Halle, guarding the bridge there ;
Soubise at Merseburg, guarding that bridge; Hildburg-
hausen was at Weissenfels, ready to dispute the passage

BATTLE OF ROSSBACff. 167

81st Oct. -4th Nov. 1757.

there. Thus an army nearly three times the size of the
king's chose to divide itself and act on the defensive instead
of attacking him."^

At eight o'clock in the morning of the 31st, Frederick,
with part of the army, appeared before Weissenfels. The
troops left to defend the eastern position were soon over-
powered and retreated over the river, burning the bridge
behind them so hurriedly that 400 men had not time to
escape, and remained as prisoners. The Prussians con-
structed another bridge during the night, about a mile
further down the river, and made good their footing on
the western bank. Keith, with the other half of the army,
tried the bridges at Merseburg and Halle, but found them
strongly occupied. The Dauphiness' army, instead of con-
tinuing to hold these bridges with a moderate force and
throwing the bulk against the king, burned them, and
actually ceased to dispute the passage of the Saale, concen-
trating at and near the village of Mucheln, where they
placed themselves awkwardly in an ill-chosen defensive
position. The Prussians repaired all three bridges, and
crossed without further opposition.

In the early morning of the 4th Frederick attempted to
attack tho enemy, but found that they had shifted their
position and were well posted for defence. Knowing that
the Dauphiness' army was far from its supplies, he felt
sure it must move, and prudently awaited a better chance
for attack. His camp also was now shifted a little, and
the army lay with its left on Rossbach, right on Bedra,
about two miles from the allied right wing.

To understand the battle of Rossbach ^ it is necessary to
know that the village so called stands on a lumpy elevation,

^ See map above Battle of Rossbach.
• See plan of Battle of Rossbach.

1G8 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

5th Nov. 1757r
from which the allied camp, lying lower, could be seen.
Behind the Prussian camp is a dip in the ground, on the
other side of which rises the Janus Hill, and, a little
further, the Polsen Hill...- There is nothing steep enough
to hinder the movemerrts of all arms, and the country is
singularly destitute of trees, hedges, or brushwood — just
sHghtly undulating ground, completely open. The water-
courses, as given on the map, will show, however, that the
highest part of the low swell of land takes in Rossbach as
well as the Janus and Polzen Hills, — water-courses, but
seldom water, as the rain soon sinks into the sandy soil
and forms no obstacle to movement of troops.

On the morning of the 5th November, the Dauphiness'
army began to work out a very remarkable idea which
had come into the head of its commander. This was no
less Mian that he would start in full view of the king,
work round the Prussian left, attack that together with
the rear and even front at the same time, and destroy the
whole force, probably capturing the king. To do this it
was necessary to catch the most subtle general in Europe
asleep in open day. The advantage of placing an army on
the enemy's communications is undoubted, provided always
that we can beat him there ; otherwise, if we are close to
him, the result" may be disastrous. Clearly, Soubise hoped
to conquer and capture Frederick. An Austrian party
destroyed that morning the temporary bridge at Weissen-
fels — Herren-Muhle bridge it was called — and so strong
was the belief at Versailles in the capture of Frederick,
that the Duchess of Orleans, forgetful of her monarch's
presence, burst out like a school-girl with the words, " At
last, then, I shall see a real king."

Frederick, hearing that the Dauphiness* army was
getting into motion — a long process with it — ordered all

/

BATTLE OF ROSSBACH. 169

6th N"ov. 1757.

the cavalry to saddle. Seidlitz, a rising man then, com-
manded the regular regiments; Mayer, the light horse.
The infantry was also ordered to be in readiness to move,
but as yet the tents were left standing. A body of French,
chiefly cavalry, advanced, under St. Germain, to the left
front of the Prussians and threatened the camp. The
main body of the enemy got itself into column and marched
by its right through Grost and Schevenroda. Frederick
watched them from the top of the Herrenhaus at Rossbach.
About 9 A.M. nearly half the army was through Grost, and,
judging from previous experience, would go to Freiburg
towards its magazines. At noon the king sat down to
dinner and remained two hours at table. About 2 p.m. one
of his adjutants, Gaudi by name, rushed into the room,
exclaiming that the enemy were turning to the left at
Pettstadt. Frederick answered with a soldier's rough
joke, having reference to the effects of fear on the diges-
tive parts. He mounted quietly to the roof, and there saw
plainly that the allied army was attempting to march
round his left in a long column. (Th e time had come then.
That day it would be given to him to " look tjie tempest
in the face, to think, to live or to die as a king/^J

His orders were promptly issued. About 2.30 p.m. the
army had the command to prepare for marching. By three
o'clock it was in movement, tents having been struck and
packed in the interval. The cavalry, 4,000 strong, ready,
beforehand, was then disappearing in the hollow behind the
camp on its way to the Janus and Polzen Hills. The infantry
followed at the double. Thus, in one hour from the first
news of the real allied movement, Frederick had altered all
his plans, communicated them to his army encamped ; that
army had struck tents, packed all its equipage, and was
■ ' See Frederick's answer to Voltaire's dissuasion from death (p. 164).

170 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

5th Nov. 1757.

swiftly rushing forward to deliver a blow which is one of
the most famous in history. A French officer who was
present describes this rapid movement as like a scene at
the opera. . The whole army disappeared in the hollow from
the view of the Dauphiness' army, and Soubise, fearing that
it might escape him by retreat through Merseburg, gave
orders to quicken the pace of his own forces. Thus the
two armies were racing for an unknown goal, both in
column. Only there were these differences. The plan of
the allies to catch the king napping had failed ; their
judgment of his intentions was now at fault ; his
army was better trained and speedier than theirs, and
Seidlitz took care to keep his flanking parties on the top
of the hills whence they could see the enemy. This pre-
caution was neglected by the allies, who blundered along,
not informed of the progress made by the Prussian
forces.

In those days of stiff, square movements, even more than
now, the head of a long column was for all practical
purposes the same as the flank in line. A Prussian battery
of eighteen guns, four of which were twelve-pounders, estab-
lished itself on the Janus Hill, and smote the head of the
allied cavalry and infantry with its fire. Seidlitz pressed on
till his scouts gave notice that he was ahead of the enemy.
Then he wheeled up, about 3.30 o'clock, advanced to the
top of the Polzen Hill, and, seeing the movement favour-
able, lost not a moment in waiting for orders but thundered
down the slope on the flank of the allied horse which were
leading the column. There was no advanced guard. Four
times did Seidlitz go through and through this mass, which
had not even time to form up. Only two regiments
(Austrian) opposed any front at all to the attack. In half
an hour the whole allied cavalry was ruined, and in its

BATTLE OF EOSSBAGH. 171

5th Nov. 1757.

flight disordered the advancing infantry. Finally, it fled
towards Freiburg, and fought no more that day. ( Seidlitz
steadied his squadrons, and reformed them in a hollow near
Tagwerben.

{ Prince Henry came up quickly with seven battalions
to support Seidlitz, and attacked the leading regiments
of the allied column, which was endeavouring to form
up to its left. Crushed by artillery and infantry fire,
the Reich's troops and the French melted away. A
Wiirtemberg dragoon, writing of this time, says : — " The
artillery tore down whole ranks of us ; the Prussian
musketry did terrible execution." In vain was an attempt
made to deploy on the rear of the column, under the pro-
tection of the remaining French cavalry, not yet engaged.
Seidlitz rushed out of Tagwerben hollow, and crushed the
futile endeavour. Infantry, cavalry, artillery, all were
ruined. The army became a disorganised wreck, and fled
from the field of battle. Only St. Germain remained
intact, to cover, in some sort, the retreat, though he was
soon broken by Mayer's light horse. The rear of the
Prussian army, now become its right, had been refused,
and was never engaged. By a stroke of military capacity
acting against an ill-led enemy, from 50,000 to 60,000 men
had been defeated by 4,000 horse and seven battalions,
supported by eighteen guns well pushed forward. The
Prussian loss was only 165 killed, 376 wounded. The
allies lost in killed and wounded 3,000, prisoners 5,000,
guns about seventy, and many other trophies.

(The battle of Rossbach is full of instruction. It shows
how helpless is an army, imperfectly trained and com-
manded, against a skilful general with a force inferior in
number but well in hand. It serves to teach us how vain
ifc is to rely on numbers alone, no matter how brave the

172 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1757.

men may be ; for the French were certainly no cowards.
It points, in short, a moral which all Englishmen should
lay to heart, when they think in serious moments of
possible battles fought in their own country, and with the
mixed troops at present availaBIdk

The essence of Frederick's manoeuvre was, as usual, the
attack in obliqiie order ; for the front of the long allied
column may be considered as its right flank ; and the king's
parallel, but swifter, march alongside of his opponents was
in principle like the march round the front at Prague or
Kolin to gain the flank. The attack of Seidlitz, without
waiting for orders, showed the born cavalry commander,
and there is a fine lesson, applicable even to-day, in his
retirement to the Tagwerben hollow to reorganise ,hi3
ranks, and his subsequent charge from it at a critical
moment. (There is hardly a finer example in history of the
energetic action of the three arms, each doing its own
work, but all closely supporting each othej^J T he Prussi an
cavalry and infantry had always done their work well, but
,the artillery, hitherto somewhat neglected, now began to
take its piac6 as' an independent arm, acting with audacity
'and decision. It first attacked with its fire the allied
cavalry attempting to form up to withstand Seidlitz. It
then crushed the allied artillery near the head of the
column, and prevented it from acting against the Prussian
horse or foot -^ and it next joined with the seven battalions
to annihilate the resistance of the infantry. Its first fire
was the signal for Seidlitz to charge, it prevented the for-
mation of the allied guns, and, when these were swept
away by the cavalry rout, it never ceased its fire against
the infantry. It was subsequently reinforced on its right by a
battery the position of which is not known exactly (Carlyle
does not even mention it) ; and it prepared the second

SILESIA INVADED. 173

26th Oct. .22nd Nov. 1757.

victory of Seidlitz by firing against a part of the allied
infantry which was too distant from the Prussian seven
battalions for them to have any effect upon it.

Decker says of it — " We may say, with all assurance, that
the success of the day belonged to the artillery. If, as at
Kolin, it had remained inactive, the enemy's infantry could
have formed and advanced ; its defeat would not have been
so complete, and the success of the (Prussian) cavalry would
have been less brilliant." ^

St. Germain, writing of it afterwards, declares :— " The
first cannon-salvo decided our rout and our shame."

The whole allied army was, as it were, burst asunder
over a radius of forty-five miles. The Keich's part of it
went home quite disorganised. (The French rushed madly
towards their frontier, plundering- as they went, and re-
crossed the Khine. Kichelieu also retired, and Duke
Ferdinand, taking charge of the Anglo-Hanoverian forces,
soon brought them into a state of order and good heart
unknown to them when commanded by the Duke of Cum-
berland. England blazed with bonfires, and voted reinforce-
ments, which, in the course of the next year, joined to the
amount of 20,000 men, of whom 12,000 arrived in August^

Frederick at once took measures to succour his army in
Silesia, where Severn had blundered, weakening himself by
detachments instead of delivering a good stroke at the
enemy. Breslau was threatened, Schweidnitz besieged.
The trenches were opened 26th October, and the place
capitulated on the 14th November, handing over to the
enemy g^ eat wealth of stores and 30,000^. in hard cash.
Prince Charles, with Daun as second in command, had now
80,000 men, and beat Bevern at the battle of Breslau,
November 22nd. The duke had imitated Austrian tactics,
1 Decker's Seven Years' War, French Edition, 1839, p. 115.

174 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

13th Nov.-3rd Dec. 1757.

entrenched, and fought a defensive battle, with the result
that he had to retire in the night, leaving eighty guns and
8,000 killed and wounded in the hands of the enemy.
Bevern was himself captured on the second day after-
wards, having Hil4en into an enemy's outpost, — some saidj^
intentionally /Breslau fell into the hands of the AustriansTID

On the 13th iTovember, a week after Ross bach, Frederick
marched from Leipzig with about 13,000 men, and arrived
at Parch witz — say 170 miles — on the 28th. He placed
Ziethen in command of the beaten Breslau army, and
ordered a concentration at Parchwitz, which took place
on the 3rd of December. That night he spoke to his
chief officers words of flame, and kindled in them and in
the army the same fiery spirit which animated his own
breast. He concealed nothing, but said that he meant to
attack the Austrians, '* nearly thrice our strength," and
conquer or perish. His concluding words were : " Now,
good night, gentlemen ; shortly we shall have either beaten
the enemy, or w^ never see one another again." The same
night he went through his army, visiting each regiment in
turn, talking famiharly with the men. Some of these
conversations have come down to our time, as related by
those who heard them. There were rough camp jokes ; the
king would say how strong the Austrians were behind their
entrenchments, and the men reply, " And if they had the
devil in front and all round them, we will knock them out ;
only thou lead us on." " Good night, Fritz," was always
the parting word of the soldiers to the general they trusted.
This was Frederick's method with his officers and men ; it
was also Marlborough's and Napoleon's. Who can find a
better bond than this kind of familiarity, which goes well
with the sternest discipline %

Breslau had fallen without firing a shot after Bevern' s

BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 175

4th-5th Dec. 1757.

defeat, and the Austrians lay well entrenched in a strong
position behind Sehweidnitz Water, covering Breslau. A
council of war was held, and Prince Charles was persuaded
by the bolder spirits to leave this position, cross Schweidnitz
Water, so as to make sure of a battle, they being 80,000
strong to Frederick's 30,000 or thereabouts. Nor could
any fault be found with this determination, provided it
were carried out in full, and the Austrian army led with
skill and energy to attack an opponent about a third its
strength. But, as we shall see, they did but leave a posi-
tion of great strength for one less formidable with a river
behind, and sat down there to await attack. Their new
position 1 was fairly strong, resting the right on bogs about
Nypern, the left on a hill behind Sagschiitz, protected by
abatis. The army lay across the road to Breslau. Its
front was covered with redoubts and villages prepared
for defence, Leuthen being one of them. On arrival in
their new position, they heard that the Prussians had com-
menced proceedings by seizing on the 4th an Austrian
bakery, near Neumarkt, where was found a complete set of
bread rations hot from the oven, no small boon in the cold
of December — a Sunday treat to the Prussian veterans.

On Monday, the 5th, early in the morning, Frederick
marched to attack, riding as usual with the advanced guard.
At Borne he found drawn up across the road a line of
cavalry, the flanks of which vanished in the haze of early
dawn. He attacked at once, and destroyed or captured the
force, which proved to be General Nostitz with three Saxon
regiments of horse, placed as an advanced post to gain
tidings of any Prussian advance. This affair was important,
for the remnants of the cavalry galloped back to the
Austrian right wing, and caused Count Lucchesi, wlio
^ See plan above Battle of Leuthen,

na FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1757.

commanded there, to believe that the king's attack would
be directed against his part of the field. Halting his
troops, the king rode on to the highest knoll in front,
whence he could see clearly the whole Austrian army drawn
up. He knew the country well, and decided that the Aus-
trian left wing was more open to attack than the right.
Once more he had the usual inert Austrian line in front of
him, trusting to purely defensive tactics, though nearly
thrice his strength. The occasion was favourable for the
oblique attack, and, as the main body came up, he formed it
in two columns, which he directed upon the Austrian right
in such order that when the companies wheeled up to the
left, they would form two lines facing the Austrian right
obliquely to Prince Charles's line. A chain of slight emi-
nences concealed the movement, like the Janus and Piilzen
Hills at Rossbach, and the Austrian commander committed
the error of yielding to repeated solicitations from Lucchesi,
who declared that, unless supported, he could not be re-
sponsible for a lost battle. The cavalry of the reserve, and
part of that on the left wing were sent to the right, Daun
himself accompanying them. Thus, at the critical time,
the left wing, which was to bear the first attack, sent part
of its cavalry five or six miles away.

When the Prussian right wheeled up and advanced
suddenly over the knolls near Sagschiitz, Nadasti, who
commanded the Austrian left, had the courage and initia-
tive to send his weakened cavalry at once against Ziethen's
horse, which first threatened attack. Ziethen was moving
up hill, had his right flank in the air, and was driven back ;
but a detachment of infantry which accompanied him forced
the Austrian cavalry to halt and retire.

It was about one o'clock when the Prussian advanced
guard, which now formed the right of the line, came into

BATTLE OF LEUTHEN, 177

Stli Dec. 1757.

action. Ten of the heavy 12-pounders from Glogau had
been brought up with difficulty, and soon destroyed the
Austrian abatis, leaving the ground open for the infantry
attack, which the guns potently assisted. Nadasti's troops
were pushed out of a fir wood near Sagschiitz, and forced
back thence, as well as from the positions further to their
left. Fourteen guns, which he had unwisely put behind
his infantry, were useless in the melee, and were carried in
the rush of the Prussian advanced guard. The whole of
the Austrian left now reeled back on the centre, and as
more Prussian troops pressed on, the crowd of vanquished
threw into confusion all the reinforcements sent to their
help. The Prussian advanced guard was moving down in
rear of the original Austrian line ; the rest of the king's
army pressed athwart the front line of Prince Charles's
strong but heavy force.

And now was shown one of the disadvantages of the
Austrian movement over the Schweidnitz Water, and the
value of Frederick's promptitude. At the battle of Breslau
Prince Charles had 320 guns ; at the battle of Leuthen only
210 pieces, all the heavy field artillery having been left on
the other side of the river. These were not numerous
enough to guard well the long Austrian front, and were
scattered so as to be of no use when wanted. Messengers
were sent in hot haste to call in battalions and batteries to
defend Leuthen. As Nadasti fell back nearly due north,
and Lucchesi swung round from north nearly southward,
a new front was established opposite the Prussian advanc-
ing lineiBut the great advantage of a first crushing blow
was on the side of the king, and that other advantage of
the initiative, namely, that he had a plan and knew where
his troops were while it was being carried outij__ To the
Austrians, on the contrary, all seemed confusion^^^'

178 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

5th Dec. 1757;

A description of the attempt made by the reserve to
change the fortunes of the day is given by the Prince de
Ligne, who was in one of the regiments which were sent
for to defend Leuthen. The troops could not deploy, and
stood from thirty to a hundred deep, played upon by case- '
shot from the guns, the 12-pounders having come up, and
by the fire of Prussian infantry at close quarters. Leuthen
churchyard was long defended, and the king had to bring
the left of his army and all his reserves into action. There
was hesitation among the Prussians attacking the church-
yard, till Major Mollendorf, without orders from the colonel
commanding his battalion, called for volunteers to follow
him, dashed in the gate heedless of a murderous fire, and
cleared the stronghold of its defenders. The windmills
were still disputed for a while, but were carried by the
Prussian left wing.

At this moment the Prussian left seemed to be exposed,
and Lucchesi, who had arrived with the Austrian right,
thought that he saw a chance by attacking it. He was
strong in cavalry, and led a charge upon it. But Frederick
had been mindful of this danger, and had ordered Driesen,
who commanded the cavalry of the left, to devote himself
to the one object of covering the exposed flank. Driesen
wisely kept his troopers concealed in a hollow and let
Lucchesi, with the Austrian horse, pass him ; then thun-
dered down upon their rear. Caught between the fire of
infantry and guns in front and Driesen's cavalry charge
behind, the astonished Austrians wavered, broke, and
spread themselves in disorder over the field, leaving bare,
in their turn, the flank of Lucchesi's infantry. Against
this flank Driesen charged, aud crushed it into ruinous
heaps of men without further hope or courage. Lucchesi
was killed in the cavalry charge, and the whole Austrian

BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 179

6th Dec. 1757.

army was now a mere mass of fugitives. Some small
attempt was made to stand at Saara, but the troops dis-
solved and melted away, streaming over the four bridges
at Stabelwitz, Lissa, Goldsmieden, and Hermannsdorf , under
the swords of the pursuing cavalry.

The battle had lasted three hours, and in that short time
an army of 80,000 men at least had been totally defeated
by one 30,000, some say 32,000, strong. The sun was now
down, and Frederick, followed by an escort of only three
battalions which volunteered for the service, rode on to
Lissa. The place was still full of the enemy, and when the
king entered the Schloss he found it occupied by Austrian
officers about to take quarters there for the night. He
might have been captured, but his gift of reading his
adversaries' minds served him in good stead. " Bon soir,
messieurs ; is there still room % " said he, with a smile, and
the Austrians were only too glad to slip away in safety.
This is an example of the over- boldness which the king
often showed. Sometimes his talents extricated him from
difficulties into which he uselessly plunged, sometimes he
suffered the due results of over-confidence. On this night
he had come out of storms of bullets, having often been in
the thick of the fight. His star was in the ascendant, and
he judged rightly that his enemies were crushed in spirit.
Lissa was soon cleared out, but was still a strange place
for the king to sleep in, seeing that only a small river
divided him from the Austrian army.

The battle of Leuthen had been fought on the strict
principles of Frederick's military art, principles which
enchained the minds of strategists and tacticians for many
years, and have hardly yet been completely driven
out by newer methods suitable for newer weapons. But
there is always something more than tactical forms in the

N 2

180 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

5th.6th Dec. 1757.

winning of battles. Above all things, the troops must have
confidence in their general. We have already heard the
king's animated harangue to his officers two days before
the battle, and his friendly talk with the men. In the
midst of his oblique march, when swiftness and sudden
attack were all important, some of the regiments were
heard singing in chorus a hymn which prayed the Deity
to grant them zeal, skill, and success. His staff asked if
they should order the sound to cease. "By no means,"
said the king, and added, " with men like these, don't you
think I shall have victory to-day?" Again, at night,
when he lay at Lissa, and from both sides of the river a
smart fire was kept up, the Prussian troops at Saara,
weary as they were, advanced to Lissa, ready to give aid
if required. In the solemn night, amid the dead and
wounded, a single tenor voice rang out, chanting a psalm
of praise. Twenty thousand throats burst into grateful
music, and uplifted in the keen air under the dome of
heaven their song of thankfulness : —

Nun danket alle Gott

Mit Herzen Mund und Handen,

Der Grosse Dinge thut

An Uns und alien Enden.

This was the Prussian Te Deum for the victory, and, like
the prayer before the battle, it was delivered while the men
were at their work as soldiers, without loss of any time,
without need of temple, priest, or incense \ Ho t by military
forms alone, however good, but by cultivating a true and
steady flame of trust and large enthusiasm among his men,
were won the chief victories of Frederick the Great. ?^id,
even when he failed, his men still believed in him and
recovered themselves quickljj

RESULTS OF BATTLE. 181

1757.

The Prussians lost in killed 1,141 men, and in wounded
5,118, with 85 prisoners made in the first passages of
the battle.

The Austrian loss at the time or picked up afterwards
was 3,000 killed, 7,000 wounded, 21,000 prisoners; that is,
a loss of as many men as the Prussians took into the
battle, together with 51 flags and 116 guns. Prince Charles
retreated as best he could by Schweidnitz and Landshut
to Koniggratz, Ziethen sticking close to him and capturing
2,000 prisoners. The remnants which arrived at Konig-
gratz were only 37,000 strong, having left 17,000 in
Breslau, who surrendered after tw^elve days' resistance.
The Austrian garrison at Liegnitz was allowed to with-
draw. Of all Maria Theresa's reconquests in Silesia there
remained to her now only Schweidnitz, and that fortress
fell in the middle of the following April.

The campaign of 1757 was the most interesting in the
Seven Years' "War. It opened with success, then presented
an example of failure in the oblique attack at Kolin. After
that battle all went wrong, and a meaner man must have
despaired. Berlin itself was threatened and even entered by
the enemy, whose armies seemed to be gradually closing
round the defenders of Prussia. " At last we shall see a
king in Paris " as a prisoner. But Rossbach showed the
coolness and resource of Frederick as well as the quality of
his soldiers, the cavalry and artillery especially distinguish-
ing themselves. Still Silesia was occupied by the Austrians,
and must needs be saved. Frederick passed swiftly to its
aid, reanimated the army beaten at Breslau, and fought
at Leuthen a battle in which occurred the most perfect
illustration of the attack in oblique order. As an exhibi-
tion of character and military talent combined the cam-
paign of 1757 is one of the most remarkable in history.

CHAPTER XV.

CAMPAIGN OP 1758. — SIEGE OF OLMUTZ. — CAPTURE OF THE

CONVOY. — Frederick's march to koniggratz. — he goes

AGAINST TERMOR. BATTLE OF ZORNDORF. DAUN ENTERS

SAXONY. — Frederick's return to Dresden. — marches

TO relieve NEISSE. DAUN INTERCEPTS HIM. — BATTLE OF

HOCHKIRCH.

A.D. 1758.

1758.

The successes of the Prussian army had raised the Pro-
testant Champion, as Frederick was now called, to great
favour in England. The country expressed it in various
forms ; among others, by a readiness to grant subsidies.
Before the ten years' peace, England paid Austria to put
down Frederick. She was now paying Frederick to put
down Austria and France. The people who had called him
a monster now lauded his name to the skies. Pitt — his firm
friend — was now in power, and a new Subsidy Treaty was
made by which Frederick was to have £670,000 annually to
be spent on the maintenance and increase of his army for
the common object. The previous treaty had promised an
English fleet in the Baltic, but the promise had not been
kept, because the Czarina informed King George that such
a step would be considered as a declaration of war.
Hitherto, in the sort of three-cornered duel which existed,

OPENING THE CAMPAIGN 183

16th Jan. 175S.

England's ally was at war with Russia, but England
herself not.

The rulers of Austria, France and Russia, were furious
as ever, and the Czarina not only tried Apraxin by court-
martial for evacuating Prussia, but ordered Fermor, who
was appointed in his place, to push across the frontier at
once, regardless of winter frosts. He did so with 31,000
men on the 16th January, 1758, and occupied East Prussia,
which he annexed to Russia, forcing the various function-
aries to swear fealty to the Czarina. Frederick never
forgave them. The main Russian army remained behind,
and did not become dangerous to the king till the
summer.

France changed her war minister, the wily veteran
Belle-Isle accepting the seals of that office. Maria Theresa
relieved Prince Karl of the command of the Austrian
army, and appointed Daun in his stead. All the nations
which were banded against the king renewed their arma-
ments, and prepared to assail him with fresh energy,
France being paymaster.

If at this, or any other time, during the Seven Years*
War, the Russians had combined with the Swedes and
marched with determination upon Berlin, nothing could
have saved Prussia. But the two powers were jealous of
each other, and neither acted with full vigour. The
Swedes always issued from Stralsund about 20,000 strong,
sometimes more, sometimes less, but invariably late in the
season. They then moved on slowly some 100 miles or so,
resisted by Prussian militia and a regiment or two of
regulars till, towards autumn, Frederick could spare rein-
forcements which pushed them back over the river Peene,
and generally besieged them in Stralsund. There they
remained half-starved till the thaw came, and allowed

184 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

13th March-16th Iprfl 1758.

ships to .enter with provisions. The threats from the
Russian side relieved them in spring, and each year the
same routine, or nigh to it, was gone through. The details
of th^ir useless proceedings are not worth relating.
^In the past year England had mismanaged her naval
and military affairs. The attempted descent upon Roche-
fort in the autumn had been blundered ; Lord Loudoun
failed in America, showing no energy ; Abercromby was
little brighter ; but Pitt had his eyes upon two better
men, Amherst and Wolfe!] The great English statesman
held his power from the~people, the court never having
favoured him ; and he was ready to accept and use talent
wherever he found it. Duke Ferdinand was now in com-
mand in the west, and Frederick was easy as to affairs in
that quarter where the French had not recovered from their
beating at Rossbach.

r^^aving, therefore, no fear of what France, or Russia,
or S^weden would do in the spring, the king determined
to try once more a bold stroke at the heart of Austria. /
His field army counted 145,000 men, of whom 53,000 con-
stituted the Silesian army, many of them Austrian
deserters. The toils and anxieties of the past year had
told upon his health, but a winter in Breslau had refreshed
him, and he was again full of vigour. His first stroke
was the re-capture of Schweidnitz. The siege began on
1st April, and on the night of the 15th — 16th, the key of
the place, Galgen Fort, was carried by storm. The
Austrians surrendered. The garrison had been reduced to
4,900 from 8,000, and they yielded up 51 guns and £700
in money, with all the stores which they had found or
brought there.

Daun arrived at Koniggriitz 13th March, and fell to
entrenching himself as usual. The town was not then a

OPENING THE CAMPAIGN. 18^

25th April-5th May 1758.

fortress, and Daun, who had more the heart of an en-
gineer than a tactician, sat down in a position which he
made impregnable. He knew that Frederick was in the
country about Landshut, whence Fouquet and Ziethen had
been detached before the siege of Schweidnitz, to clear the
Austrian light troops out of the Glatz and Troppau neigh-
bourhoods respectively. He expected that the king would
advance southward directly against him, and, accordingly,
he fortified positions at the mouths of all the passes.
Instead of this he found that the Prussians marched, 1 9th-
25th April, to Neisse, and towards Jagerndorf, April 27th.
Seeing this, he judged that the king must be about to
attack Bohemia from the east, and, to cover the province,
he left his grand fortified camp near Kbniggratz and
mo;v^ed to Leutomischl, veiled by a cloud of light troops.
f^Vii Frederick's intentions were far otherwise. His plan was
tt> capture Olmiitz and make it a base of operations against
Yienna;:^ He had with him from 30,000 to 40,000 men ;
Prince Henry commanded in Saxony another 30,000, and
would, the king hoped, be able to cross the Metal Mountains
and join him, while Mayer, with his Free Corps, deranged all
the plans of the E-eichs army by capturing magazines and
striking rapid blows. C^i Olmiitz could be captured quickly,
an advance into the fat corn lands of Moravia, hitherto
unexhausted by campaigns, would enable Frederick to feed
his army and threaten Vienna ; thus drawing away from
home, and eveiL from Bohemia, all danger on the part of
Austrian troops„.->

Frederick marched from Neisse with the first column,
Keith followed with the siege army. The king's force, on
arrival, was posted at Aschmeritz, Neustadt, Starnau,
Prossnitz, and Sternberg. Daun arrived at Leutomischl
5th May, and formed posts at Nickels, Konitz (where was

186 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

1758.

Loudon), Muglitz, Friedland, and Lobnick. Besides these,
Deville covered the road to Brunn.

One great advantage possessed by Austria was her
irregular troops, by which her armies were always covered
and her enemies annoyed. These were warlike men;
Hungarians, Bosnians, Croats, Dalmatians, Tyrolese, and
even Italians. They formed chains of posts and even
strong detachments between the Austrian camp and the
enemy. Their officers were skilled in choosing positions
for defence and in movements to harass an enemy. The
system of using these irregular troops foreshadowed the
modern use of outposts, and was in many respects more
complete. No tents were needed to guard these hardy
warriors from sun and rain. They generally fed them-
selves. Their enemy could hardly move a battalion
without observation from their curious eyes, while, on
the other hand, their net of posts and wandering parties
swept up any small detachments which might be sent out
by their enemy to gain information. Hardly fit to con-
tend with large forces, they felt no shame in retreating on
more solid supports. Thus they furnished a cheap means
of procuring information and denying it to an enemy ;
and though the amenities of modern warfare would now
render the use of such a force in Europe an anachronism,
the Austrian irregulars showed, on the whole, a better
temper, during the Seven Years' War, than the Cossacks
of Russia. Under Nadasti at first, and later, under
Loudon, they were taught to hold their ground some-
times even against the trained troops of Frederick. Their
organisation and use might well be studied by English
volunteers and yeomanry, who, in case of invasion, might
perform similar duties, avoiding the rough habits of these
Austrian guerillas.

SIEGE OF OLMUTZ. 187

22nd-2Sth June 1758.

The siege of Olmiitz languished. The first parallel had
been opened too far from the place, which was well de-
fended. But the chief difficulty was the transport of
stores over the ninety miles of mountain road which had
to be traversed between Troppau and Olmiitz, through a
country infested by the Austrian light troops. The first
Austrian success was the throwing a reinforcement of
1,100 picked grenadiers into the besieged town on the
22nd June. Still, it seemed that Olmiitz must fall, and
the last stages were only postponed till the arrival of an
important convoy of 3,000 waggons, which was to leave
Troppau on the 26th June, escorted by 7,000 men under
Colonel Mosel. So much depended on this convoy that
Ziethen was sent from Olmiitz with a strong force to assist
in covering the march. The convoy started at the time
expected, but the country waggoners straggled so that
the 27th had to be made a day of rest. This was fatal.
Loudon, with a force of some 12,000 men or more, was
on the watch for it from the west, and Ziskowitz with
another force from the east. Daun had manoeuvred so as
to deceive the king and make him expect a battle. On
the 28th the convoy began to struggle forward again,
having already lost or sent back nearly a third of the
waggons, which broke down from the terrible state of
the roads. As the advanced guard moved slowly forward,
it perceived Loudon drawn up to oppose the passage of
the defile between Bautsch and Altliebe. Colonel Mosel
attacked at once, and drove back Loudon with his Croats
and Hungarians. The convoy reached NeudorH' that
night, where Mosel was overjoyed to find Ziethen, who
had come so far to meet him. The state of affairs was
critical. The convoy was again in a jumbled condition
from bad roads and dread of the enemy. A whole day

188 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

30th June 1758.

more had to be spent in restoring some sort of order, and
the march began again on the 30th, Ziethen and Mosel
knew only too well that in front of them was the worst
defile at Domstadtl. All precautions were taken, but
when the head of the column, with some 120 waggons,
was fairly in the defile, it came under fire of artillery.
Horses were killed, waggons disabled, and the road was
soon blocked. The rest of the convoy was brought
forward as quickly as possible and packed in a mass
for defence. The attack came from both flanks at once
and was at first repulsed. All soldiers know the result
which must follow. The waggoners lost heart and head
and the convoy fell into chaos. The Prussian troops
fought with great bravery. General Krokow, with the
advanced guard and 250 waggons, among which was the
military chest, gained the bridges of the Morava and
escaped to the king. Ziethen had to fall back on Troppau.
The convoy was utterly broken up and lost, in spite of the
gallant conduct of the Prussian troops.

Jomini remarks of this action that the recruits who
formed a portion of the Prussian force, " though they
had never seen an enemy before, covered themselves with
glory. Never did veterans of Kome or Sparta fight with
more intrepidity for their country than did these youths
from seventeen to twenty years of age. Out of 900, only
sixty-five were taken; some of the wounded even re-
turned to Troppau. The rest, along with Captain Pirch,
who commanded them, resolved to defend themselves to
the last breath, and carried to the grave the laurels
which they had won. All were found dead on the post
which they were ordered to defend." ^ And he adds,

i Jomini, TraiU des grandes Operations militaires, torn. ii. p. 96,
edition 1851.

SIEGE RAISED. 189

lst-2nd July 1758.

'* The goodness of troops depends upon the genius which
knows how to create motives for enthusiasm."

It is to be remarked that, during the siege of Olmiitz,
Frederick seemed to be hardly himself. It was not like
him to allow Daun to manoeuvre in the neighbourhood
without a battle. It was a mistake to move so huge a
convoy instead of several smaller ones, and a strange
neglect to suffer at least 20,000 Austrians to reach his line
of communications and remain there for days without
discovery. Military students will do well to compare the
operations about Olmiitz, in 1758, with those of Napoleon I.,
in 1796, when, under greater difficulties he suddenly
abandoned the siege of Mantua and even his batteries ;
defeated the enemy, returned and captured the place.

But if Frederick failed during the siege to uphold his
renown as a strategist, his action after the capture of the
convoy was remarkable, and remains as one of the great
models for soldiers. /\A^ordinary general, knowing that
his means of subsistence were reduced, that he was in
presence of a superior enemy, and that his communications
were cut, would have certainly fallen back behind his
fortresses in Silesia, only too glad to find safety and
repose. Frederick, on the contrary, raised the siege in a
masterly manner during the night of the 1st and 2nd
July, and moved with his whole force, not to Silesia but
to Bohemia, which Daun had left exposed by his manoeavres
south of the king against the convoy. yWhile Daun was
doing his usual Te Deums, Frederick was off. Never has
there been a more remarkable march. The Prussians
moved with an advanced guard, a main body composed of
the siege parks in the centre, and a column of all arms
on each flank, then a rear guard. The whole of this force
was, as it were, escorted by Austrians. They were in

190 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

14th July 2nd Aug 1758.

front, on the flank and in rear ; the king's army was but a
convoy on a large scale ; nothing but a certain inertness
of Austrian nature prevented a battle which ought to have
gone against the king. Yet, on the 14th July, the
Prussian army was safely assembled at Kbniggratz, and
in possession of all the fine entrenchments which Daun had
made so short a time before. Daun arrived and sat himself
once more behind other entrenchments. The two camps
were so near that they could see into each other's lines.
But Daun dared not attack, though considerably more than
twice as strong as Frederick — say 75,000 against 30,000.
For all that Daun could or would do the Prussian army
might have remained at Kbniggratz for months.

Meanwhile in other theatres of war, Prince Henry was
in Saxony, with about 25,000 men. The Reichs army with
a reinforcement of 15,000 Austrians was in the circle of

. Saatz ready to invade Saxony. Duke Ferdinand in his
pursuit of the French beat them at Crefeld, 23rd June.
France, in consternation, dismissed Clermont and appointed
Contades to command. Belle_Jsle's only son, the Comte
de Gisors, fell at Crefeld. / On the 8th July, General
Amherst's force landed at Louisberg, and on the 8th
August the place fell to the English. All was going well
except in one direction, and to that point Frederick had
now to turn his eyes. }

Fermor with his Kussians were now in the field, the

rCossacks ravaging and murdering horribly. They were at
Tosen about the time when Frederick advanced into
Bohemia, and thence threatened both Brandenburg and
SilesiaT" \ On the 2nd August, Frederick commenced a
march into Silesia with the intention of finding Fermor,
and fighting him. The march was conducted with great
skill, and is a model for that difficult operation — retiring

DEATH OF WILHELMINA. 191

2iid-15th Aug. 1758.

through mountain defiles in the face of a superior enemy.
More than this, Frederick's enemy had actually beset
the principal passes. From the 28th July to the 2nd
August the king made several partial movements to
deceive the enemy, and clear the road by which he
intended to move, and on the latter day commenced his
retirement by Scalitz and Nachod to Kloster-Griissau.^
Qurmg the perilous march he learnt from his brother
Henry that the much loved Wilhelmina was apparently
dying. In spite of the hurry and difficulties in which
he was involved, Frederick wrote tender letters to his
sister which were answered by her own hand ^p long as
she could hold a pen, and afterwards by dictation.
But there was no time to indulge in lamentations. ^
Frederick arrived at Griissau on August 8th, and
remained there two whole days, during which the king
drew up careful instructions for Henry in the event of his
death, and then, leaving about half the late OlmUtz army
to strengthen the force for defence of Silesia, thus bringing
it to 40,000 men under Keith, marched on the 11th through
Liegnitz for Frankfurt on Oder with the intention of
fighting the Eussians. He had probably with him about
15,000 men, and arrived at Frankfurt on the 20th.

Fermor had left Posen on the 2nd, and moved slowly
towards Ciistrin, which town he reduced to ashes on the
15th. But the fortress remained untouched by the flames,
and was occupied by a Prussian garrison, behind which lay
Dohna with the force detached from looking after the
Swedes. Dohna and Frederick together would number
perhaps 30,000 men, the Russians may be set down as

^ There is a good account of these interesting movements in Jomini's
TraiU des grandes Operations militaires. It is well worth tlie attentive
study of the military student.

192 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

22nd-25th Aug. 1758;

about 52,000. On the 22nd the army was concentrated
and crossed that night at Glistebiese. LeaviDg the baggage
on the other side of the Oder, the force pushed on ten
miles to Klossow, intending to cross the Miitzel next day
at Neudamm. The head-quarters of the Russians were
at Gross Kamin. On the 24th Frederick broke the bridges
over the Miitzel, south of Neudamm, and crossed there
during the night. He broke up the bridge behind him so
that no escape across the Miitzel would be possible to the
Russians. The day before, 23rd, Termor, hearing of the
king's advance, raised the siege of Ciistrin and posted
himself north of Zorndorf, sending his huge baggage train
rich with plunder to Klein Kamin. Thus on the morning
of the 25th the king was nearly due north of the Russians,
who were separated from their trains, and arranged in a
sort of camp order fronting all round the compass, their
light baggage being in the centre. In this formation
the army was about two miles long by one mile broad, in a
sort of irregular quadrilateral formation with uneven sides.
This formation had been found good against the Turks,
and is probably the best for a small force which has to
meet a large one of irregulars ; it was not suited to with-
stand Frederick's tactics. Considering Fermor as fronting
towards Neudamm, the left or broadest part of his quadri-
lateral rested on the Zabern hollow, with its marshes, the
right or narrowest part on mud pools and quagmires near
Zicher.

But the king had no intention of attacking the north
front ; he had broken the bridges over the Miitzel with the
intention of driving the Russians into that river and the
marshes which line its banks. He must therefore march
jound the Russian army and attack it from the south ; his
own retreat, if worsted, would be short, and upon the

BATTLE OF ZORNDORF. 19^

25th Aug. 1758,

fortress of Custrin. Bent upon carrying out this purpose,
and, with his usual impetuosity, ignoring all but his main
intention, he actually marched between the Kussian army
and its trains, which were at Klein Kamin, without dis-
covering their neighbourhood. By capturing or destroy-
ing them he might have forced the Bussian army to retire,
without wasting a man or a shot on the enterprise. Instead
of this, he marched to the south of Wilkersdorf and
Zorndorf, to place himself on the western flank of the
Russians. The march was seven or eight miles long, and
Fermor, seeing what was happening, rearranged his quad-
rilateral, placing his best troops in the southern face.
The Cossacks, retiring from Zorndorf, set fire to the
village, and Frederick, reconnoitring the Bussian western
face, decided that the approach across the Zabern hollow
with its quagmires would be too difiicult. He decided,
therefore, to attack the south-western angle with his left
reinforced by the centre, and to refuse his right. The
first division ordered to attack marched westward of
flaming Zorndorf, the next division east and northward
of the burning village. Thus occurred a wide gap between
the two divisions. Two strong batteries, numbering to-
gether sixty guns, preceded the march, and posted them-
selves so as to enfilade the two faces of the Bussian angle.
The Bussian ajitillery responded, but its diverging fire had
less effect. \ The action of the Prussian artillery was
terrible by its enfilade fire. Tielcke, who was with the
Russians, reports that forty-two men of one regiment were
killed or wounded by a single shot.^ The baggage horses
in the interior of the quadrilateral were thrown into great
confusion, and Manteufel, who led the Prussian left divi-

^ Decker denies this, saying that the batteries were too distant.
But they certainly advanced afterwards to closer range.

O

194 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

25th Aug. 175a

sion, thought that he saw the moment come for attack.
His division pushed gallantly into contact with the enemy
and the musketry of the rival infantries was soon at work ;
but the second division was not yet near enough to help,
and Termor, seeing the gap, poured into it, and upon
ManteufeFs front at the same time, a tremendous torrent
of horse and foot. Manteufel was thrust back, and
twenty- six guns captured from the Prussians. For a
moment it seemed as if a catastrophe was at hand, but
then, as ever, Frederick was well supported by his chosen
cavalry captains. Seidlitz, with wonderful cleverness, had
found his way across the bogs in the Zabern hollow, and,
at the critical moment, formed up on solid ground, and
threw himself, with 5,000 horse, upon the flank of the
Russian attack, already broken by its own impetuosity.
The charge of Seidlitz was decisive. The Russian advance
was dashed to pieces, and by its destruction left a gap in
the defensive quadrilateral. Into that gap went Seidlitz,
supported by Manteufel' s division, and, in a q'uarter of an
hour, complete chaos reigned in this part of the Russian
army. The Russian cavalry fled to Kutzdorf, Fermor
being with them, and would have crossed the Miitzel but
for the breaking of the bridges. The Russian infantry,
with that strange dogged persistency characteristic of their
race, fled not, but could hardly resist. The cavalry of
Seidlitz, mad with desire for revenge, sabred them as they
stood, till the arms of the troopers were too weary to
wield the sword. Farther away from Seidlitz the Russians
broke open the suttlers' brandy casks and filled themselves
with the ardent spirit, even from puddles in the ground
when their officers split the casks. rTnis terrible example
of human passion and human despair continued until half
the Russiaji army had been destroyed or swept away, but

BA TTLE OF ZORNDORF, 195

25tn Aug. 1758.

between the two wings of it, and separating the quad
rilateral into two parts, was another marshy hollow called
the Galgen-grund. On the other side of this the second
part of the Russians, about two-thirds, remained firm, nor
was there any possibility that the troopers of Seidlitz,
weary with killing, or Manteufel's division, after its
double fight, could make any impression upon the dogged
Muscovites.

It was now the turn of the right wing, which, preceded
by the rest of the artillery — formed in three batteries, fifty-
seven guns — advanced to the attack of the Russian left
front. It would seem that the horrible nature of the
carnage which had already prevailed had stricken the
Prussian infantry with awe. Their advance was slower
than usual, and thus the battery most to the right, thirty
pieces, was unsupported. Once more the quadrilateral
opened, and a strong force of Russian cavalry rushed
upon the battery as it was unlimbering. The guns were
taken, and the teams with their limbers rushed wildly
back, throwing the infantry into confusion. A supporting
battalion was also captured, and again the day seemed
lost. The king threw himself into the mass of confusion,
and strove to rally the broken battalions.^ At this
moment Seidlitz again appeared with sixty-one squadrons,
sprang upon the Russian cavalry, shattered it to atoms,
and recaptured both infantry and guns. The infantry
which had fled formed part of Dohna's force. The bat-
talions which Frederick had brought over the mountains
all stood firm. Three of them had been recruited in the

1 It is not quite clear whether there were not two similar Eussian
attacks about this time ; the first defeated by cavahy from the right,
the second by Seidlitz with his sixty-one squadrons. The point is
without importance.

o 2

196 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

25th Aug. 175»,

Zorndorf country, and blazed with savage wrath against
the cruel enemy who had made their homes desolate.
These and others pressed on to close quarters. The
I artillery had torn the enemy's masses to pieces ; Seidlitz
J and the infantry fire had completed the ruin of all for-
mation. V. Still, with set teeth and stubborn determination
the Russians stood in groups or singly, and met their foes
like wild beasts at bayA The opposing forces closed,
pressed together, mingled in complete -confusion. All use
of artillery, every power of manoeuvre, was gone ; and in
their place was a death grapple between Teuton and Slav,
breast to breast, with bayonet and butt, with hands, feet,
and even teeth. Archenholtz says that the Russians
would not even fall at once when shot through, but
seemed to wait a while.^ Round this struggling mass
wheeled bands of Cossacks, among the dead, the wounded,
and the field-pieces, abandoned as useless for the time. A
fringe of cold-blooded murder garnished the masses in
their horrible strife. Darkness came slowly over the
field, and for a time even under its shadow was heard the
sobbing breath of foes still struggling, though exhausted.
Gradually and sullenly the Russians separated themselves,
and drew back. A formed body of them reappeared on a
knoll as night fell, and the king could not persuade the
battalions which had shrunk from the fight to save their
honour by another attack. The battle was ended by
exhaustion and darkness, not by any manoeuvre, nor
because either side was mentally tired of slaying.

The losses were, on the Prussian side, 11,390, of whom
3,680 were killed. The Russians lost 21,529, of whom

* This is in accordance with the author's own observation when
accompanying the Russian army in 1877. The tenacity of life shown
by Russians and still more by Bulgarians was often very remarkable.

DA UN ENTERS SAXONY. 197

2(5th Aug. -2nd Sept. 1758.

7,990 were killed. Thus each army had lost more than a
third of its strength, many of the Russians being drowned
or suffocated in the bogs on the banks of the Miitzel.
The Prussians lost twenty-six guns, the Russians 103.

Next morning the Russians showed themselves in battle
order on the Drewitz heath, and there was some cannonad-
ing across the Zabern hollow, but neither army had
real stomach for another such struggle, and besides, am-
munition had run low. It is strange that Frederick still
left unseized the Russian trains at Klein-Kamin. His
hussars knew of them, for they had plundered them the
night before. During the night of the 26th the Russians
moved round south of the battle-field to Klein-Kamin, and
remained till the 31st, when they slowly withdrew in the
direction of Landsberg and Konigsberg. Frederick ^ave to
Dohna the charge of pressing the Russian rear, and himself,
marched for Saxony on the 2nd September,

During the absence of the King a great project had been
conceived at Vienna. Daun and the Reichs army were to
concentrate near Dresden and crush Prince Henry, who
was about half as strong as the Reichs army alone. Parts
of Daun's force, under Deville and Harsch, were to enter
Silesia and besiege Neisse. All fell out as intended, except
the crushing. Prince Henry refused to be exterminated ;
and after a series of brilliant manoeuvres posted himself in
an entrenched position on the heights of Gahmig, near
Dresden. Prince Henry was always too quick for Daun.
The difference" between the Prussian and Austrian armies
may be judged from the fact that Frederick, advancing
upon Fermor, marched with a numerous and heavy
artillery, much less mobile then than now, at the rate of
nearly fourteen miles per day. In returning towards
Dresden he sped back at the rate of twenty-two miles a

198 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

12th Sept. -7th Oct. 175$.

day, and arrived just in time to disconcert by his presence
a combination which Daun had formed against Prince
Henry ;^ Daun's marches had been at the rate of nine
miles per day. ( jChe name of Frederick was . enough for
Daun) who fell back to Stolpen, where he fortified himself.
Pn the 12th September the king dined with Prince Henry
at Dresden. His army was now at Grossenhain, north of
Meissen, with its Elbe bridges; Prince Henry's force
covered Dresden, Daun was at Stolpen, and the Peichs
army in the Pirna country. The four armies lay for about
a month in nearly these positions, to the wonder of the
world, Frederick thrusting here and there against Daun's
posts. His army much needed the rest which it obtained.
On the 26th September the king arrived at Pamenau,
near Bischofswerda, where Loudon was posted; recon-
noitred the position next day, and would have attacked it
the day after, but Loudon prudently fell back towards
Stolpen. Drawing nine days' provisions from Dresden,
the king now decided to march towards Bautzen, sending
General Petzow with an advanced guard to that place.
He was ordered to seize Weissenberg and the Stromberg
Hill in front of Bautzen, and did so accordingly, on 1st
October, except the Stromberg. Why should he % all seemed
quiet.

He placed a cavalry outpost on that hill by day but
retired it by night. On the night of the 6th — 7th the
Austrian General Wehla, who had till then fallen back
before Petzow, reoccupied the hill. For now, Daun, fearing
for his magazines at Zittau, was on his way to intercept the

^ Tempelhof doubts whether Daun had conceived a living plan.
That ascribed to him was that his army should march round by Meissen,
cross the Elbe, and take Prince Henry in rear, while the Eeiclis army
attacked in front.

KING MOVES TO BAUTZEN. 199

7th-llth Oct. 1758.

Prussian army Frederick had been delayed by awaiting
the provision columns from Dresden, which only reached
Bautzen on the 10th.

The king himself with the army arrived at Bautzen on
the 7th, and on the same day Daun finished his march of
two days and lay at Kittlitz. Thus Wehla was his advanced
guard, and possessed that Stromberg hill which domi-
nated the whole country and was the key of the positions
thereabouts. On the 10th Frederick pushed forward to
Hochkirch and saw, to his chagrin, Daun's army drawn
up opposite him in front of Kittlitz. In vexation he
turned his eyes to the Stromberg and saw there, not Prus-
sian troops, but Austrian grenadiers, five battalions of
them, with a numerous artillery. Just the one key-point
had been neglected. The king was furious. He clapped
Betzow in arrest, and with headstrong obstinacy insisted
on encamping within a mile of the Austrians, and in a
position inferior to theirs. So evident was the folly of
this that his favourite adjutant, Marwitz, refused to mark
out the ground, and was also placed in arrest. No special
pleading can excuse Frederick. He was yielding to childish
passion, or rather to that strain of mad self-will which, when
displayed by his father, had cost the boy so dear. Yield,
ing to his temper and to his contempt for Daun, he risked
the safety of his army and country without any advantage
to be gained. Next morning the Stromberg was attempted
but found impregnable, the Austrians being already rein-
forced. As usual Daun fortified assiduously, and Frederick,
having never been attacked, had a blind confidence in the
inertness of the Austrians. His plan was to move, on the
14th, to Shops, and place himself there on Daun's right
flank, thus turning the position. But, for once, the
Austrian general felt that he must act with some vigour.

200 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

llth-13th Oct. 1758.

Never in his career would he see so manifest an oppor-
tunity again.

Such insolent neglect as that of Frederick is almost in-
credible, especially when it is remembered that his force
was but 40,000 all told, that Daun had 90,000 in com-
manding positions only about a mile distant, that the King's
right wing, under Keith, and his centre, together only
28,000 strong, occupied about four miles of country from
Hochkirch to Drehsa, or thereabouts ; and that his left
wing under Ketzow, 12,000 strong, was beyond Weissen-
berg, having between it and the centre a gap of four or
five miles. (But the feeling of the king may be under-
stood by his reply to Keith, who said : — " The Austrians
deserve to be hanged if they don't attack us here." Frederick
answered — ** Let ^ys hope, then, that Daun fears us more
than the gallows." j

The right of "the Prussians was strengthened by a battery
of twenty guns, by four battalions thrown back en potencBy
and by Ziethen's cavalry. Opposite them, nearly due
south, lay Loudon, with some 3,000 men, principally
Croats. Wooded hills covered this force, and Frederick
knew nothing of it. Another battery, of thirty guns,
strengthened the left of the 28,000 under the king's
own command. Retzow, as we know was beyond
Weissenberg.

On the Austrian side, D' Ahremberg, with the right wing
about 20,000 strong, occupied the Stromberg and there-
abouts, ready at any moment to place himself between the
king and Retzow. The main force was in front of the
Prussians, with Loudon out-flanking them. Far behind,
at Reichenbach, the Prince of Baden Durlach commanded
a force of 25,000, to observe Ketzow and protect the com-
munications. The fronts of the Austrian and Prussian

DAUN'S FLAN OF A TTA CK. 201

!ISth-14thOct. 175S.

lines were only half a mile apart, with a brook for
frontier.

The night of the 13th fell, chill and dark, enshrouding
the armies with its folds of fog. The Prussians slept pro-
tected from the marsh mists by their tents. The horses
were unburdened, by order of Frederick, their saddles and
other furniture packed carefully in heaps on the ground.
All except Ziethen's cavalry. That brilliant, yet cautious
leader, felt the same anxiety as Keith, and kept his horses
saddled, in disobedience to the king's command. During
the day the hollow woods had resounded to the chopping of
axes, the usual noise in Daun's camps. Making abatis,
Frederick thought. And all through the night the sound
of the chopping and falling of trees continued with added
intensity. The Austrian watch fires burned brightly along
their lines, and figures flitted in front of them, piling ou
wood and throwing long shadows on the white mist.

But behind those watch-fires there were no troops. The
axe during the last two days had been at work making
roads through the woods, and now redoubled its noise to
conceal that of an army in motion. All night long the
columns moved silently through the dripping woods till
30,000 men cast the arms of their formation round the
Prussian right to the very back of Frederick's army. Still,
even Ziethen slept, though his horses were saddled. At
the same time, D'Ahremberg's men were planting them-
selves in readiness to attack the king's left and its thirty-
gun battery ; but no blow was to be struck here till the
Prussian right should be driven in. Baden Durlach was
preparing to grasp Betzow firmly, and at least prevent
him from sending support to his master. As the clock at
Hochkirch struck four, all the Austrians were settling into
their positions ; their deceitful watch fires burned brightly

$02 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

14th Oct. 175&

as ever, and the Prussian soldiers lay wrapped in their
blankets dead asleep. A few only, whose business it was
to repel the usual morning attacks of the Austrian light
troops were awake and stirring. All seemed still this
dark and misty morning. Even the usual crackle of
firearms among the light troops was absent.

The church clock at Hochkirch struck five. It was the
signal for the attack of 30,000 men on the weak Prussian
right, and the woods began to echo from tree to tree the
sound of musketry, becoming ever louder and more fre-
quent. Gradually the idea forced itself on the Prussians
that this was no outpost affair, but the approach of a
serious struggle. One by one their battalions came into
action, but only to be surrounded, and cut their way out
through masses of the enemy. The guns fired into the fog
and darkness, but were attacked from front, rear, and flank.
Zeithen, with his cavalry, swept backwards and forwards,
and succeeded in keeping the extremity of the position clear.
But all was of no avail. The Austrians were more nume-
rous on that flank than the whole of the king's portion
of the army. The twenty-gun battery was taken, and
the battalions became skeletons, the bones of them hang-
ing still together, and fighting as best they could with a
courage and discipline beyond all praise. Keith, with
one fresh battalion and the remnants of others, charged
up the hill straight on the battery and recaptured it.
But his small force was surrounded and overwhelmed. He
tried to force his way out with the bayonet, but fell, shot
through the heart, a victim to his master's fierce
obstinacy.

Shortly after Keith's repulse and death, Frederick be-
came aware of the terrible nature of the attack, and sent
to the right a reinforcement of several battalions. They

BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 203-

14th Oct. 1758.

too were repulsed, and Moritz of Dessau fell, a wounded
prisoner, into the hands of the Austrians. Then the king
himself rushed into the thick of the combat with more
battalions. He too passed beyond Hochkirch, but his
horse was shot under him, and, as the fog slowly lifted,
he perceived that all was lost on the right, and an iron
ring of the enemy was closing in upon him. Now, too,
D'Ahremberg came into action against the Prussian front.
Steindorfel was gone, and with it the main line of retreat
on Bautzen. Nothing remained but to concentrate the
army as best might be, and retreat, if retreat were still
possible, by the pass of Drehsa where the brook runs.

Sharp orders were despatched to seize the Drehsa
heights, and the ever ready Ziethen flung himself into
position at Kumschutz and Canitz to guard the new right.
Urgent messages were sent to Retzow to come in with his
best speed. But Betzow was now in action with Baden
Durlach's 20,000, and had much ado to get back by Belgen
and thereabouts. To rally the beaten troops was no easy
task, but it was done under the shelter of two hastily-formed
batteries, one on the heights of Drehsa, which checked
Loudon advancing from Steindorfel, another brought together
by Frederick himself, of ten heavy pieces, half way between
the Drehsa heights and the thirty-gun battery. These
two new masses of guns held back the victorious Austrian
left wing and saved the army from rout. The thirty-gun
battery was left almost defenceless. Twice it repulsed the
attack of D'Ahremberg and gave time for the troops to
rally. The third time it was surrounded and captured
about nine o'clock. The artillery had done its part well.
In such a case as this the duty of that arm is to sacrifice
itself for the safety of the infantry. The guns were lost,
but they gained time for the king to form his new front and

204 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

14th Oct.-20th Nov. 1758.

for Retzow to escape being cut off. By ten o'clock Retzow
had joined, his movements having been covered by the skil-
ful resistance of two batteries well supported by infantry.

Frederick now ordered a general retreat. It was carried
out in perfect order, always fronting the enemy with one
echelon while another retired. Grim and savage the
Prussians fell back, covered by what guns remained to
them, and so surly was their appearance that Daun dared
attempt nothing further. The relics of the army took post
near the Spree that night ; not broken in spirit, hardly
disheartened. The king was cheerful, and Daun fell back
to his old camp, where he remained for some six or seven
days to come, then moved only a little forward. On the
23rd Frederick, already reinforced by artillery from
Dresden, and by 6,000 men under Prince Henry in
person, marched down the Spree apparently for Glogau,
and two days later struck south-eastward by Reichenbach
towards Neisse. Daun's flank was turned after all, and
the siege of ISTeisse had to be raised.

'The Prussians lost in the battle about 8,000 killed,
wounded, or missing, with 101 guns, and the Austrians
about as many men. But, to Frederick, Keith and Moritz
were irreparable losses, and his heart was even more sorely
bruised by news which arrived four days afterwards.
Wilhelmina was dead. From that day forth Frederick
the man was lonely in a world of pain.

The king, with his army, being gone for Silesia, Daun
thought to capture Dresden, moved slowly there and laid
siege to the place. But on November 15 th he heard that
Frederick was speeding back by Lusatia, his work in
Silesia being done. Daun faltered iand fell back into the
Pirna country. On the 20th Frederick was in Dresden, and
Daun on his way home to Bohemia.

BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. 205

1758.

This remarkable campaign shows the genius of Frederick
at its best and worst. He began with one idea which,
with great versatility and address, he changed for another
after the capture of the convoy rendered the fall of
Olmiitz hopeless. His march to Kbniggratz, instead of
falling back on Silesia, was a magnificent instance of the
true way of defending a country. Nothing could be more
careful and well-conducted than his passage through the
mountains, and his march on the Russians was brilliant.
E^iually remarkable was his neglect to seize or destroy
the Russian trains, for, if on the first day of the battle he
was too much occupied to think of them, there could be no
such excuse on the second day. The Austrian Loudon, or
the king's own partizan leaders, would certainly have
seized such a golden opportunity. / The rapid return to
Saxony was a master stroke, but exception must be taken
to the slowness of the movement on Bautzen. It would
have been better to wait till all the provision columns
were in readiness before moving at all. Frederick was
now committing the fault of despising his adversary too
much. He would not give Daun credit for the slightest
military vigour, and was accordingly out-manoeuvred.
When he found the Austrian army in front of him, hairing
the road to Neisse, his anger and self-confidence verged on
madness. But he was always great in defeat. ■ Once more
he formed a new pTan, and executed it with sucL ability
as to atone for his previous errors. The rest of the cam-
paign is a perfect example of well-conducted war. It is
true that, according to modern military art, Daun and his
other opponents were culpably slow, but so had the old
Prince of Dessau been, and the Prussian armies at
Mollwitz and elsewhere, till Frederick made them quick
and subtle, and taught his generals rapidity of motion.

?06 FREDERICK THE GREA T,

Every action must be judged according to the spirit of
the age, and if one general appears brighter and bolder
than the rest of his time, he must be assigned a niche in
the Temple of Fame as a great commander. Military
pedants like Jomini may talk of the effect of interior
lines on a campaign like this. The fact is that Frederick
used them when he had them ; Daun had the same ad-
vantage when the king was fighting Fermor, and again
when he was relieving Neisse. Frederick made the best
of them ; Daun threw his chances away.

CHAPTER XYl.

CAMPAIGN OP 1759. BATTLE OF KUNERSDORP. FALL OP

DRESDEN. — PRINCE HENRY's GREAT MARCH. CAPTURE OF

FINCK AT MAXEN.

A.D. 1759,

1759.

The struggles of the past three years had greatly ex-
hausted the resources of Frederick, and he was driven to
strange shifts for procuring the necessary money and
means. Prussia, small in population, had produced her
best army at the beginning of the war. As the veterans
died or retired, young soldiers took their place. Discipline
was less perfect, yet, as we shall see, some of the finest
marches were made by the new levies. On the other hand
the Austrian armies were improving. The population to
draw upon was greater, the troops had gained experience,
and the generals were learning the art of war from their
great opponent. Under these circumstances, Frederick
thought himself obliged to relinquish his dashing method
of opening the campaign by invasion of his enemy's
country. An immense cordon had been drawn round him
during the winter. The Russians had withdrawn but
were still at enmity. Daun's Austrians were round the
western Silesian border and the south-eastern Saxon.

208 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

1759.

Then came the Reichs army in Thuringia and Franconia.
Then Soubise, with 25,000 French in the Frankfurt-Ems
country, and lastly, Contades behind the Rhine on the
Dutch borders. In this chain of posts were about 300,000
men, all enemies to the life of Prussia. To meet these
and the Russians, Frederick had about 150,000 ; he was
reduced to debasing Prussian coin for his necessities, and
above all there lay upon him the shadow of that terrible
loneliness which never left him after Wilhelmina's death.
*' Nothing solaces me," he writes, "but the vigorous
application required in steady and continuous labour."

Among his labours was an essay on Tactics, in which
he speaks of the perpetual sluggishness of the Austrians as
the main cause of his success hitherto. He had by this
time become aware of the power which might be got from
the new arm, a mobile field artillery, and 'he felt that the
Prussian artillery was not equal to the Austrian. Hence-
forward he set himself to improve it, and he did so more
and more as the quality of his infantry fell off.

In the early part of the year his various armies struck
blows at the cordon, though without intention of definitely
invading any territory ; rather to disturb arrangements
and capture magazines. As the king himself was not
engaged in these, we will take no notice of them, except
to say that on the whole they were successful, and delayed
the advance of the enemy like sorties from a fortress.
Daun was so astonished at the king attempting no invasion
that he was long at a loss for any plan of campaign,
wasting five weeks in correspondence with the Russians.
Neither party liked the task of belling the cat. In June
the king made a reconnaissance into Bohemia, of no
importance but for the fact that in his small column
marched four guns, of lightest equipment, the gunners

BIRTH OF HORSE ARTILLERY, 209

Jiily-Aug. 1759.

mounted on the horses as postilions. This was the first
attempt at an artillery capable of accompanying cavalry
on the march and in the field — the germ of the present
horse artillery of Europe.

The Russians took the field this year earlier than usual.
Soltikof was now in command, superseding Fermor.
Frederick, as usual, drew upon his northern forces, and
ordered Dohna, with 18,000 men, to try whether he could
not deliver some stroke against the separate parts of the
Russian army before it could concentrate. Dohna was old,
and trained on the old methods of war, and did nothing of
value. Soltikof out-manoeuvred him, and Frederick, whose
best generals, except Ziethen and Seidlitz, were all killed,
appointed Wedell to command, with instructions to fight
the Russians somehow and somewhere. On the 23rd
July, Wedell, with 26,000 men, attacked Soltikof, 70,000
strong, besides Cossacks, on the march near Zullichau.
Wedell was defeated with loss of 6,000, and fell back to
Crossen Bridge, five or six miles below the town of
Crossen-on-Oder, which Soltikof occupied on the 24th.
Daun tried to persuade the Russians to push on, and unite
with him for a blow against Frederick ; but Soltikof
moved down the Oder to Frankfurt, marching rlways on
the eastern bank. Daun had detached Loudon and
Haddick some time before, with 35,000 men, to join the
Russians. It was necessary for Frederick to prevent the
'junction if possible, and he determined to do the work
himself. Calling Prince Henry to command at Schmott-
seifen and watch Daun, he drew in his various detach-
ments to Sagan, and on the 6th August united with
Wedell at Miillrose, near Frankfurt, after a vain search
for the Haddick-Loudon force. He always missed it by a
trifle, yet his swift pursuit had the effect of forcing

p

210 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

2nd-12th Aug. 1759.'

Haddick with the bulk of the infantry to relinquish the
attempt, and Loudon only joined the Russians on the 2nd
August with 20,000 men, chiefly cavalry.
/^t this time occurred in the western theatre of war the
baOTe of Minden, where Ferdinand defeated the French, the
English and Hanoverian infantry in the centre of the fight
behaving magnificently/^he French army would have been
ruined but for th«-«risconduct of Lord George Sackville,
who commanded the cavalry, and failed to attack when
ordered. The mists of time have veiled the terrible
incapacity, to say the least, of some English officers in the
Seven Years' War. Were one tenth of their weakness
and folly shown in a campaign now, the telegraph would
flash the news from the pens of many correspondents, and
on the very evening of the battle England would be in a
delirium of indignation.

At MUllrose Frederick lay quiescent for some days. He
was awaiting Finck with another 10,000 men, which would
give him 50,000 altogether ; the Russian enemy being,
with Loudon, about 90,000 strong. Finck arrived on the
10th at Reitwein, some fifteen miles below Frankfurt, ^he
king and his army being there to meet him. Two bridges,
one of pontoons the other of boats, brought from Custrin,
were laid speedily, and the whole army crossed that night
in two columns, and moved next day towards Kunersdorf.
That night the army lay between Leissow and Bischofsee.*
Finck was placed at Trettin.

On the morning of the 12th, at three o'clock, the king
marched to attack the Russians, who had drawn up on
the sandhills about Kunersdorf. Frederick did not know
the ground, and, being misled by a peasant and by an
officer who had hunted in the vicinity, planned his battle
1 See map. Battle of Kunersdorf.

BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 211

12th Aug. 1759. - —

as it could not fiiically be carried out, because of delay in
crossing the boggy ground. The plan was for Finck to
remain at Trettin or in front of it, making demonstrations
as if the attack of the main army were to be thence. The
rest of the army was to move in two columns by the left
through the woods. The Russian right wing was to be
cannonaded from north by Finck, from east by the king,
and then the whole of the army was to bear down together
and sweep the Russians out of their position. Frederick
would command the centre.

The first difficulty was found in the king's march
through the woods. The troops went too far and had to
be recalled with great difficulty, the heavier guns, with
their teams of twelve horses, being especially hard to
reverse among the trees. At last, after a weary march of
more than eight hours, the troops arrived in their places,
or nearly so ; Frederick established two batteries, one on
the little Spitzberg, the other on the road to left of that
hill. Later, a third battery was established to left of the
road. About eleven o'clock the batteries opened fire,
Finck assisting from his side. The range was too long for
the guns of that time — " 1,950 paces at the nearest,"
Tempelhof says ; but so dashing was the infantry
attack, that eight grenadier battalions captured the
Russian batteries on the Muhlberg in ten minutes. ^ The
JR;USsiafiL left wing was beaten, and by one o'clock was
streaming "TmcFlmretf eat on the main body. Now was
the time for the combined attack, but the left was not

^ The disposition of the Russian guns had been such that they could
not see into the hollow across which tlie Grenadiers advanced. It is
a sad mistake to imagine that a hill is hard to capture if steep enough.
On the contrary, it may be too steep for safety. For instance, poor
CoUey's position on the Majuba Hill.

p 2

212 FREDERICK TEE GREAT.

12th Aug. 1759.

even yet in position, and Finck was in difficulties in the
Hiinerfliess, which was almost impassable for the guns of
that time. There was at first no artillery with which to
fire on the retreating Russians, and when it arrived the
enemy had formed a new position behind the Kuhgrund
(cow hollow).

Upon this position the king now directed his army. He
could not wait for the artillery, toiling behind ; his men
were suffering much from the fire of the Russian guns,
and he risked the advance. Finck, pressing up from the
Elsbrucb (Alder Waste), stormed the left of the position,
and the right centre pushed on from the Miihlberg. The
left could not attack through Kunersdorf as the village
had been set on fire by the Russians. The infantry struggle
was desperate, and lasted three hours. Once more the
Prussians were successful, and carried the greater part of
the position, though the Kuhgrund was literally paved with
their bodies fallen under the Russian case-shot. Almost
all the position, but how much in that word — almost !
About 150 Russian guns had been taken, but again, not
alL There remained the Spitz berg to be carried, and upon
it was a battery of forty guns. In front too, was a
gradually sloping glacis, and behind it Loudon's guns
and others which had rallied on them. It was therefore a
mass of well-posted artillery which had to be attacked if
attack there must be.

Frederick's generals, Seidlitz among them, implored him
to rest content with his success so far, and he heard from
Wunsch, whom he had sent to Frankfurt to intercept the
retreat, that the enemy were actually beginning to cross
the river. But again he was headstrong. He ordered
some guns to fire on the bridge and insisted that his weary
infantry should attack again without waiting for the

. BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. 213

1759.

artillery to prepare the way. The left wing, hitherto not
engaged, advanced on the Spitzberg and climbed the slope
only to be hurled down again by case-shot. Then the
king, wild with wrath, sent at it Seidlitz with the cavalry.
But the horsemen were shattered by the same fire, and
driven in flight beyond the lakes of Kunersdorf. Again
and again did Frederick throw his men against the batteries.
Thrice he himself led the attack, and three horses were
killed under him. A bullet struck a small metal box in
his waistcoat jacket and was flattened. In front the same
work was going on. The Prussian battalions dashed them-
selves to pieces against the batteries. That nothing might
be left untried Frederick sent the cavalry round by the
east of the Miihlberg to attack from the Alder Waste.
Eugen, of Wurtemberg, led them, but, when ready to
charge, found that he had no men left with him. They
had been over-tried and failed at last. Slowly now the
infantry gave back. One last attempt was made at the
Kuhgrund and with the last cartridges, but in vain. It
was repulsed with the deadly case-shot. The last blow
was given by Loudon who charged with his cavalry. From
that moment the Prussian army was a miserable mass of
fugitives. It melted away, and the king, who was one of
the last to leave the field, found at the bridges only 3,000
men awaiting him. CThe army had lost about 19,000
killed, wounded, and prisoners, the Hussians and Austrians
together, about 18,000.^

/^ederick had sent five messages to Berlin during the
battle, at first announcing victory, then defeat and despair.
He a ctual ly handed over the army to Finck, and determined
notJ;o_su.rvive the disasterT) Worse still, he wrote to
General Schmettau, who commanded at Dresden, a letter
saying that he must expect no help, and might have to

214 FREDERICK TEE GREAT. •

4th-15th Sept. 175».

make terms for himself. The next day 23,000 men had
arrived, the Kussians did not pursue, and on the fourth
day after the battle the king was himself again. He sent
to Berlin for refitments, and ordered Kleist from the
Swedish business to join him. He was saved however,
not by anything he could do, but by the sluggishness of
his enemies. Daun and Soltikof spent their time in talk,
each trying to persuade the others to give Frederick the
coup de grace.

On the 4th of September Schmettau surrendered Dresden
to the Reich's army quite unnecessarily, and with great
hurt to the cause, for General Wunsch was then within
ten miles, having been sent with 8,000 men to relieve him.
But though Dresden was gone, Wunsch with his 8,000
and Finck with about the same number managed to hold
the Reich's army in check, and to snatch some advantages
from them. As for Schmettau, the king ordered him to
Beirlin, never employed him_again nor saw his face more.

/ The situation was critical. | The Russians and Austrians
together were 120,000, withTree communication. Frederick
had 24,000 guarding Berlin; Prince Henry 38,000 at
Schmottseifen, separated from the king by the whole of
Daun's army, which stretched its flank as far as Hoyers-
werda, headquarters at Triebel. Thus was formed a living
wall of enemies between the king and Prince Henry, and
the advantage of interior lines was against the Prussians.
Prince Henry manoeuvred against Daun's communications^
and forced him to make detachments. CBttt the one mea-
sure which would have ruined Frederick was neglected by
the allies. Tl^y could not agree to unite and crush either
Prussian armyj At last, on the 15th September, they held
a conference, and agreed that Soltikof should attack Silesia
while Daun should strike Prince Henry. Frederick now

, PJRINCE HENETS MARCH. 215

Sept. lOth-Oct. 1759.

showed his strategical ability by seizing Sagan, whence he
could communicate with Henry, and check Soltikof.
Whatever movement was made by the Russians they found
Frederick in front of them, ready for a battle, which
Soltikof avoided. Soltikof had bargained for food sup-
plies from the Austrians. They sent him money instead,
and he growled that his men could not eat silver. Finally,
on the 24th October, he withdrew to Posen, and the snows
of Russia swallowed him from sight for that year.
Loudon had to get home as best he could through western
Poland and Cracow.

Daun concentrated and moved to Gorlitz on the 22nd
September, ready to attack Prince Henry, who was in
position there on the Landskron. The attack was to be
next morning, but when day broke the Prussians had dis-
appeared. Daun, fearing for his magazines at Bautzen,
marched there, but Prince Henry's plan had been far
otherwise. He moved first northward to Rothenburg,
twenty miles, where he bivouacked three hours ; then to
Klitten during the second night, a march of eighteen
miles. Resting there again only three hours, the prince
again marched through the evening and night twenty
miles further, arriving on the 25th at Hoyerswerda, where
he at once attacked and crushed Wehla, who, with 3,000
troops, formed the most westerly detachment of the Austrian
army. The march occupied fifty hours, the distance was
fifty-eight miles. Nothing but perfect efficiency in every
branch could enable any army to perform such a feat, and
the fame of it rang through Europe, adding much to the
respect in which Frederick and his Prussians were regarded.

But hard work, fatigue, and exposure were telling on
the king. On October 10th he fell sick of the gout. For
three weeks he was confined to his room, yet such was his

216 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

Oct..Nov. 1759.

energy that instead of resting, he wrote diligently a
memoir on the military character of Charles XII. He
was carried in a litter to Glogau.

[r vince Henry now commenced a series of manoeuvres
against Daun, causing that worthy but old-world general
to retire gradually. But the king, recovered from his
illness — was the gouty blood clean gone from his brain ? —
joined Prince Henry, and with adventurous rashness
determined to crush the Austrians altogether. In his
instructions to his generals Frederick speaks strongly
against making detachments on the eve of a battle ; yet
he detached Wunsch before Kunersdorf, and he now
detached Finck to circle round in rear of Daun and help
in the general destruction. Prince Henry and Finck
himself objected, but the king's obstinacy prevailed. On
the 15th November Finck marched by Dippoldiswalde to
Maxen. Daun brought together a force of the Reich's
army as well as his own, and surrounded Finck at Maxen
with 42,000 men, the Prussian general having only 12,000.
After two days' fighting Finck capitulated, and even had
to call back Wunsch, who had escaped with the cavalry,
and deliver up him also. For this there was no excuse.
Finck ought to have fought to the last in an effort to break
out. But the chief fault lay with Frederick, who should
not have detached Finck unless he were sure of supporting
him by keeping Daun always occupied.

(So the armies stood for the winter, Daun occupying
Dresden, Frederick holding the rest of Saxony. Both
Daun and Frederick prolonged their stay in the field till
far into the winter, but nothing came of it. The cam-
paign had been unfortunate above all others,^Ln^ it is the
one in which Frederick for the first time stood on the

defensive to await his enemy. "|

CHAPTEE XYII.

CAMPAIGN OP 1760. — Frederick's double plan. — siege of

DRESDEN. MARCH TO SILESIA. MANOEUVRES AGAINST THREE

ARMIES. BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ. RAID ON BERLIN.

FREDERICK MARCHES FOR SAXONY. BATTLE OF TORGAU.

A.D. 1760.

The campaign of 1760 opened with dismal augury for
Frederick. His country was nearly exhausted. He had
lost 60,000 men in the last year and the quality of the
recruits was falling off. His exchequer was nearly ruined,
and the successive admixtures of copper with the coin had
depreciated the value of Prussian money . \ His c hief enemies,
the Austrians and Russians, had at last agreed upon a
combined plan of operationQin which Loudon was to have
the separate command of an army of 50,000 men, destined
for Silesia. He was to operate on the Oder in conjunction
with Soltikof, while Daun, with 100,000 men, was to hold
Frederick fast in Saxony, or, if the king broke loose against
Loudon and Soltikof, was to follow him into Silesia. The
Prussian army had lost so many officers that the regiments
had by no means their full complement, and so strong was
aristocratic prejudice, that it was impossible to throw open
the profession of arms to competition among all classes.

218 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

That great step was reserved for the forces of the French
revolution. Yet Frederick's unsurpassed power of admin-
istration provided a respectable army for the field, rein-
forced his artillery, and remounted the cavalry. ^^England
granted a subsidy as usuatNand men who swelled the army
of Ferdinand to 70,00(rr^,000 of them English. Against
the duke were Broglio with 80,000, the Count of St.
Germain, on the Lower Rhine, with 30,000, and Prince
Xavier with 15,000 as reserve. (Vnited Eyrope believed
that the last hours of Prussia were at hand^^
/^he campaign of 1760 is memorable for its wonderful
marches'X At the outset Frederick opposed Daun. Prince
Henry 'Snd Fouquet were to check the Russians and
Loudon and to guard Silesia. At the. middle of May, the
Prince and Fouquet were spread over a line of posts, 300
miles, from Land shut to Colberg. Urged by the king,
Prince Henry concentrated between Sagan and Sprot-
tau, then moved northward to Frankfurt, and finally to
Landsberg. But no urging could induce him to attack
the Russians while on the march in separate divisions.
Posen was the Russian main base of operations. Fouquet,
deceived by Loudon's manoeuvres, was enticed from Lands-
hut ; thereupon Loudon pounced upon that place and then
blockaded Glatz (7th of June). Frederick, irritated by
this failure, ordered Fouquet to retake Landshut. He did
so on the 17th, but having only 13,000 men was attacked
by Loudon with 31,000 and completely defeated with the
loss of nearly his whole force. This terrible blow showed
Frederick that he himself must do more than watch Daun,

and (he forthwith formed a double plan : first, to march

to_Silesiar'if he could and strike Loudon; second, if this
pl^n fajled, to draw away Daun, rush back and carry
Dresden by a sharp siege. This was a combination worthy

SIEGE OF DRESDEN, 219

2ud-lSth July 1760.

of a great general. On hearing the bad news of Fouquet's
failure he sent an order to Magdeburg that a siege train
should be in readiness at that place. On the 2nd of July
the king moved twenty miles northwards from Gross
Dobritz to Quosdorf, near Krakau, the first village in
Lusatia. Daun sent Lacy with 20,000 to harass the
march and stop it if possible. He encamped in sight of
Frederick on the 3rd, and on that night the king marched
to attack him. Lacy being warned moved off towards
Bischofswerda, declining the combat. On the 6th Frederick
marched another fifteen miles to Kloster Marienstern.
Daun moved to Bautzen with Lacy as rear-guard. July
6th, Frederick pushed on to outflank the Austrians and
pass Daun, leaving Bautzen on the right. So intense was
the heat that 105 Prussian soldiers died of sunstroke.
Daun moved also to Gorlitz and lost 200 men from the
same cause. Finding that the main force was gone,
Frederick occupied Bautzen, and planned to strike Lacy
moving from Bischofswerda, On the 8th, in the evening,
the attempt was made, but Lacy again escaped back to
Bischofswerda, and to Dresden on the 10th, thence to
Plauen Chasm and the Eeichs Army. Daun was already
fifty miles ahead, on the way to Silesia. On the 12th.
Frederick was crossing the river close to Dresden with
intent to carry the fortress. He knew that Daun must
return, but hoped that time enough would be given.» On
the 18th the siege guns arrived from Magdeburg, and all
being prepared for them beforehand, began to bombard the
town. It was a cruel torture to the townsfolk, but not out
of the war rights of a besieging army. We have lived to
see in this generation a bombardment of the gayest capital
in the world. Maguire, the commandant of Dresden,
mounted guns on the roof of the Kreutz Kirche (Protestant

220 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

18th-29th July 1760.

High Church) ; the Prussian guns destroyed church and
battery together, without the king's orders as he always
said afterwards.^ Maguire burned what remained of the
suburbs from the last siege, and the Prussians burned a
great part of the town during the bombardment. The
wretched inhabitants were reduced to extreme misery, and
could hardly bless the supposed clemency which had re-
frained from capturing the place by storm the first day as,
it is said, might have been done.

The day after the bombardment commenced, Daun's
advanced guard arrived and opened communication with
Maguire from the north. Yet he had not courage or
conduct enough to act quickly, nor did the torture of the
city cease for ten days more. Frederick was at this time
in severe mood. During a sortie the regiment Bernburg
was driven back from the trenches by very superior
numbers, and the king, unforgiving, deprived the regiment
of its swords. The situation had become impossible. It
was not unlike what the siege of Sebastopol would have
been a century later if the Russians had held command of
the sea. There were frequent slight attacks and rumours
of attacks by Daun. The besiegers had to shift position
constantly, and all signs portended a battle under dangerous
circumstances. The siege must be raised, and, on the night
of the 29th of July, the army moved towards Meissen,

^ During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, Giurgevo, an open town,
was bombarded by the fortress of Ruschuk in revenge for tlie opening
of Russian batteries not in Giurgevo. Later in the year I was visiting
the Russian batteries about two miles from Giurgevo, when a Russian
officer pointed out to me red crescent flags erected in Ruschuk, imme-
diately behind some of the principal batteries of the place. He said it
was done with a purpose. Soon afterwards there was a bombardment,
and the Turks complained that the Russians had fired at the red
crescent flag.

LOUDON TAKES GLATZ. 221

29th July-lst Aug. 176a.

down the river, the siege train having been sent away
during the two preceding days.(^n that night, the 29th,
the Austrians were firing signals of joy, because they had
heard that ^Glatz had fallen into the hands of Loudon on
the 26th.l_^he southern key to Silesia was gone, and,
worst of all, had been thrown away by incompetence, vl^he
chQ,racter of Frederick was shown by his conduct on rer
jceiving t he news. ^[We will recover Glatz," he said, " at
the general peace. Now we must march into Silesia in
order not to lose everythingJD Frederick decided that he
must go to the succour of Silesia. He hoped that Loudon
might besiege Neisse and be out of the reckoning for
a time. /^One crumb of comfort fell to him. Duke
Ferdinand won a victory at Warburg, the English in his
force greatly distinguishing themselves. Lord Granby and
the English horse more than atoned for the failure of
Lord George Sackville at Minden, and Maxwell's brigade
covered itself with glory^^The English soldiers were
always to be trusted when well led. All their failures in
the Seven Years' War, wherever they occurred, were due to
the incompetence of superior officers. But Warburg could
have no effort on Silesia, where the king must go with
Daun and Lacy dogging his steps and Soltikof awaiting
him. How could he possibly escape disaster %

On the 1st of August, Frederick crossed the Elbe at
Zehren, six miles below Meissen, and encamped at Dallwitz.
That same night Loudon was outside Breslau in Silesia,
and began to bombard the place. The defence was in the

^ For the exploits of Loudon see his Life, which forms another
volume of this series. He was a brilliant general and, if he had been
in chief command from the first, would have put a very different
Austrian stamp on the Seven Years' War.

§22 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Aug. 1760.

hands of Tauentzien, a brave and skilful officer, hard as a
flint. Nothing would make him and his 3,000 men yield,
and Prince Henry, roused to activity, made a splendid
march from Landsberg, the last three days from Glogau
being at the rate of thirty miles per day. The prince struck
at Loudon's supplies and forced him to abandon the siege.
Soltikof, arriving near Breslau on the 8th, found, not
Loudon and the magazines, but Prince Henry and the
Prussians safely entrenched. Thus the Russians were
checked, but Loudon was free.

On Sunday, the 3rd of August, the king began a march
almost without parallel. Daun had broken roads and
bridges, made entanglements of trees here and there, and
generally done all things possible to hinder a movement to
Silesia. When the Prussians started, Frederick marched
in three columns, the left column leading. They would
form two lines and a reserve in case of attack. The
most careful and business-like orders were given to meet
all events, and may be studied in Tempelhof to this day
with advantage to the military reader. The weather was
sultry, the roads, as we have said, made difficult in
places; yet the king marched to Bautzen, more than 100
miles, in fivQ days, Daun in front of him. Lacy behind.
Daun was at Bischofswerda when Frederick started on his
march, and moved to Bautzen immediately. Hied, with
Lacy's light troops, was ordered to harass Frederick's
march. It may be worth while to follow the movements
on a good map, remembering that the distance was over
100 miles — Jomini calls it forty leagues — that five rivers
had to be crossed, the Bober, the Queiss, the Neisse, the
Spree, and the Elbe ; and that Frederick had with him a
train of 2,000 wagons.

FAMOUS MARCH,

Aug. 1760.

PurssiANS.
August Zrd. — The king went to
Konigsbrnck.
General Hulsen remained in
Saxony, opposed to the im-
perial army.

August 4th. — The army marched
to Ratibor and Lugau.

ArSTKIANS.

August drd. — Daun
Bautzen.
Lacy to Lichtenau.

223

went to

to

August 5tJi. — The king to Dobers-
chiitz.

August 6th. — To Ober-Rothwasser.

August 7th. — The king to Bunz-
lau.

August 8th. — Rested.

August Uh. — Daun went

Reichenbach.
Ried, from Bautzen to Weis-

senberg.
Lacy, near Bischofswerda.

August 5th. — Daun moved to
Neukretscham.

The reserve, under Prince
Lowenstein, remained at
Reichenbach.

Ried to Lobau.

Lacy followed the Prussians
and camped at Geblitz.
August 6th. — Daun crossed the
Queiss, and occupied the
famous camp of Schmott-
seifen.

The reserve at Haugsdorf, be-
hind the Neisse.

Lacy, to Gorlitz.

Ried, to Bernstadtl.
August 7th. — Daun halted.

The reserve closed up with
him.

Ried, to Haugsdorf.

Lacy, to Mark-Lissa, and left
Brentano at Steinkirch, on
the Queiss.

Beck, who up to this time had
watched Prince Henry be-
tween Bunzlau and Glogau,
now joined the army, and
formed the advance-guard.

224 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Aug. 1760.

Arrived at Bunzlau, the Prussian army had a day's rest
— much needed. Frederick knew that Baun was at Schmbtt-
seifen with a post at Striegau, and that Lacy was on his
left, both between the king and Land shut. His best
chance seemed to be to march swiftly to Jauer, some forty
miles south-east. If he could be there before Daun he
might pass by Striegau and unite with Prince Henry. He
marched twenty-five miles on the 9th, only to find Dauh
opposite him across the Katzbach river, and Lacy on the
hills at Goldberg. More terrible still was the fact
that behind Daun was Loudon, whom Daun had called up
with his army to help to crush the king; Daun, Lacy,
Loudon, together about three times as strong in numbers
as Frederick. On the 10th he made for Liegnitz to
try the road by Parchwitz-Neumarkt-Leuthen. As he
moved down the left bank, Daun marched near him on
the right bank of the river, while the light troops of
Lacy hung on the Prussian rear. Loudon marched near
Daun. No escape this way and but a week's provisions
left ! As he encamped at Liegnitz the enemy were beside
and front of him. The Prussian army had marched fifteen
miles that day, but at 11 p.m. it had to return on its steps,
and at daybreak of the 11th was on its old ground, only
Lacy between it and escape. Lacy was now on the other
side of the river as rear-guard to Daun. The king crossed
to attack him. Lacy withdrew, and before the Prussian
baggage could come up Daun was back again with Loudon,
nothing but a ravine being between the opposing armies.
The Prussians encamped in a hollow of the hills at Seichau
and remained there the next day, the 12th, because recon-
naissances showed that the ways towards Breslau were
beset by the enemy. Even the Prussian officers began
to talk of a Maxen for the king himself. Mitchell, the

EFFORTS TO CRUSH FREDERICK. 225

Aug. 1Y60.

English ambassador, thought the situation so dangerous
that he burned all his secret papers and the cypher key.
But at sunset of the 12th, Frederick crossed back to the
left bank near Goldberg and pushed down the river again
to Liegnitz, arriving about noon on the 13th. Hardly
were the tents pitched when the Austrian armies came in
sight and soon lay round the king. Daun was to the
south,^ near Jauer, about seven miles distant ; Lacy the
same distance south-west, near Goldberg ; Loudon a little
nearer, between Jeschkendorf and Koischwitz in a north-
easterly direction, separated from the king by the Katzbach.
They were 90,000 to Frederick's 30,000, and, as if this
were not enough, Czernichef, with a Kussian corps of
24,000, crossed the Oder and stood in support of Loudon,
but this last addition to his enemies was unknown to the
king. On the 14th the Austrians made a grand recon-
naissance in force, and Frederick drew out to meet them.
He knew that plans would then be formed to attack him.
His provisions were nearly exhausted. Never was general
in a more dangerous situation.

(Frederick's greatest successes had all been due to his
taking the initiative, and he was not a man to rest idly while
his enemies executed their plans.y The way to Parchwitz
seemed still open and he had~magazines at Glogau. He
decided to march in the night and encamp till daybreak on
the heights of Pfaffendorf, sending on his empty wagons
to Glogau, where they were to fill up and return to meet
him in the neighbourhood of Parchwitz. He personally
reconnoitred the Pfaffendorf position, marked the place for
the camp, returned and lay down to sleep. Just then a

drunken Irish ofhcer of the Austrian army appeared in camp

^ See map above Battle of Liegnitz. For position of Frederick's
camp see plan of battle, a — a, soutli-west of Liegnitz.

Q

226 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

14th-15th A.ug. 17G0.

and reported that a general attack was to be made upon
him in the night, but the king saw no need to alter his
arrangements.

The watch-fires burned brightly when the Prussian army
moved at about 8 p.m. on the 14th, and were kept burning
through the night by peasants. All round the horizon,
except to the north, glimmered also the fires of the enemy.
The Prussians marched in three columns ; the artillery and
trains crossed the Schwartzwasser by a stone bridge in
Liegnitz suburbs, the rest of the army by a pontoon bridge
further down the stream. By one o'clock all were safely
across. Still the horizon glittered with fires, outdone only
by the stars which, Templehof tells us, shone with special
brightness that night as the Prussians lay down on the
short grass to snatch what rest they could. Few slept.
Officers and men spoke in low tones of what the morrow
might bring, Frederick himself sat half asleep by a watch-
fire. The main army under the king lay northwards,
almost fronting Loudon's camp. Ziethen's division was in
the angle formed by the Schwartzwasser and Katzbach.
All was tranquil and silent under the stars save the low
murmurs of the men and the occasional voice of a superior
officer growling deep commands. The clocks of Liegnitz
chimed half-past two.

Then the silence was broken by the galloping of a horse
and an anxious voice exclaiming, " The king ? Where is
the king ? " " Here," said Frederick. The hurried and
anxious voice cried quickly, " The enemy in force has
driven in my vedettes and is within 600 yards of our left
wing ! " Frederick was on horseback in a moment, with
sharp command to General Schenkendorf's battalion and its
share of heavy guns to occupy the crown of the Wolf sberg.
It was done in a moment, and the roar of ten twelve-pounders

BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ. 227

15th Aug. 1760. " ' ""

broke the silence of the night, pouring case shot full in the
faces of the advancing Austrians. The attack came from
Loudon's corps, which had the task of seizing these very
heights before daybreak. He too had left his fires burning
and crossed the Katzbach near Pohlschildern. He marched
without advanced guard, the better to surprise the baggage
train which he had heard was near the place. In the other
Austrian camps the watch-fires were burning without
troops to warm. Lacy was marching to turn Frederick's
old position, Daun was on his way to attack it in front.

The sudden fire of the guns at close range threw the
heads of Loudon's columns into confusion and prevented
their formation ; but the Austrian general, knowing that
retreat was rain in such a case, deployed what troops he
could and sent them at the hill, bringing up batteries to
support them. The columns in rear, hearing the firing,
halted and gave time to the Prussians to form up rapidly
and force back the troops first advanced. As Loudon's
columns came gradually forward, he strove to gain the
Prussian left flank, but the king extended always and
checked him. This extension left a gap in the line near
the village of Panten, but the column of Austrians which
took that route had halted, and, before advantage could be
taken of the breach in the line Mollendorf, of Leuthen
fame, dashed at Panten with what troops he could collect
and set it on fire, thus barring the passage there. Loudon
ordered a charge of cavalry against the Prussian left in
the dim light of early dawn. It was met by the regiment
Bernburg swordless indeed, but with level bayonets and
eager to win back the favour of the king. Bayonet met
lance and sabre in close strife and, though greatly suffering
and almost alone, the infantry drove back the horsemen.
/Three dashing attacks were made by Loudon, then he
^ <5 2

228 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Uth Aug. 17G0.

withdrew under cover of a battery at BienowitzN He had
lost 4,000 killed and wounded and 6,000 prisoners, total
10,000 men, with eighty-two guns. His strength had been
35,000 against Frederick's 15,000 or thereabouts. The
Prussian loss was 1,800.

Strange to say, Daun, though warned by his light troops
about one o'clock that Frederick's camp was vacant, never
heard the firing of the battle and moved slowly after the
Prussians, warning Lacy also to follow. Daun sent his
cavalry across the stone bridge, but they were broken and
put to flight by Ziethen's artillery fire. Neither Daun nor
Lacy could cross the stream. (|^Tne surprise had miscarried
and the battle of Liegnitz was practically over in one hour
and a half. \ ^^- ^

But th^rgame was not yet won. (Jioudon,^ broken but
not destroyed, might still be dangerous, and Czernichef,
with his 24,000 Russians, was on the hither side of the
Oder. The Prussian army had suffered in the battle and
was encumbered with the wounded. Dauh should have
passed the Schwartz wasser or Katzbach, where he could by
pontoons, and not rested till he had attacked the king
again. Never could that cautious commander understand
the fiery rapidity of Frederick. He thought that the
Prussians must be delayed for some time, at least a day,
and purposed to move on the morrow with a new plan. Not
plans were wanted, however, but swift and straight strokes
at an adversary weakened and almost beginning to hunger.

Frederick made no delay. On the morning of the battle
he found time to pack the severely wounded in empty
meal wagons, the slighter cases on horseback, sometimes
riding double. Some of the meal wagons were left on the
field, cut to pieces, their teams taken for the captured
cannon. Even the muskets of the dead and wounded were

AFTER THE BATTLE. 229

15th. .16th Aug. 17G0.

not forgotten. Each cavalry soldier and each baggage
driver slung one over his back. All this business was put
in charge of General Saldern, who managed it in per-
fect order. As Frederick rode round the battle-field he
came upon one battalion standing grim and silent, black
with gunpowder, sabreless, amidst a pile of its own
dead, surrounded by heaps of Austrian cavalry. The
king gazed silently at the faithful band. At last a
sergeant stepped out of the ranks, saluted, and said,
" Regiment Bernburg, your majesty." " Ah ! " said
Frederick, "you did well. You shall have your swords
back ; all that went before shall be forgotten." Tears
came to the eyes of the gallant soldier as he replied, " You
are then once more our gracious king." " Surely," came
gently from the monarch who had once accused himself of
having more sensibility than other men. The regiment
broke into lusty and heartfelt cheers.

About nine in the morning all was ready. The assembled
army, all but Ziethen's corps, which was to follow in the
afternoon with the various baggage, stood prepared to
march. Its Te Deum was three volleys of musketry, and,
when that was over, it moved off for P^^chwitz and the
uncertain future there. Daun had not found time to inform
the Russians, but Frederick had been quicker. He confided
a despatch to a peasant who was to fall into Russian hands
and give it up to save his life. It was addressed to
Prince Henry, and said, ** Austrians totally defeated to-
day ; now for the Russians. Do what we agreed upon."
Czernichef at once fell back across the Oder and the way
was clear, though the king could not be certain of it yet.
There were now only two days' provisions. At Parchwitz
next morning the question arose whether he should march
for Breslau, uncertain of success, or to Glogau, where

230 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

^^ 17th Aug. 1760,

supplies were sure. /Frederick decided for Breslau with all
its risks. The choice was bold. In his inarch the day
before he had seen Austrians fall back before him from
Parchwitz, and now his hussars were engaged with the
patrols of Beck's corps, which soon appeared on the
heights of Kumernig. In rear of Beck, about a league
distant, marched the heavy columns of the main Austrian
army. Still must the race for life continue ! Where were
the Bussians % About mid-day the king rode on with a
few hussars to the neighbourliood of Neumarkt, whence ho
could see the surrounding country. Not an Austrian or
Bussi^n was in sight, and Breslau was near. The race was
won^^^,JIIe communicated with Prince Henry the same day,
and sent on the advanced guard and prisoners as far as
Borna. Next day, the 17th, the camp was at Hermannsdorf,
only seven miles from Breslau. The Austrians fell back
to Striegau.

The slightest study of the events just related will show
that the salvation of the king depended upon the mistakes
and slowness of his enemies. But some of the Austrian
marches had been quick enough, and mistakes are always
made in war. That general wins who makes the fewest.
Frederick was not only taking great strides in the art of
war, but was teaching his enemies. Yet he was always
too quick for them. In the movements during the first
month of the campaign he showed more than ability. His
nimble mind changed from plan to plan as each sudden
occasion demanded, and his faults of temper were less
conspicuous than usual. With misfortune following him
from the last year into this, he retained the calmness of
his intellect and the courage of his soul. In the midst of
appalling dangers he always retained the initiative, and if
Soltikof refused to join the war-dance round Frederick

AFTER THE BATTLE. 231

20th Aug. -9th Oct. 1760.

because, as he said, there were enough already if they
knew how to act, who can say that his caution was not
justified by events ? The general feature of the struggle
was that Frederick, with 30,000 men against 90,000 of his
enemies, one-third of them under the bright and clever
Loudon, out-manceuvred, out-fought them, and succeeded in
his- adventure.

L^^hile Frederick was in' Silesia Hiilsen was left with
about 12,000 men to guard Saxony. He was attacked on
the 20th of August by the Reichs Army, reinforced by an
Austrian division, altogether 30,000 strong. The assault
was weak and repulsed with loss, but Hiilsen soon found
himself obliged to fall back to X^rgau, and Saxony was at
the mercy of the king's enemies^^

'^ AftifillJj^g^i^^ tha— Rii5;fiiajrv« rfttirprlj but before goiug

home determined to besiege Colberg for the second time.
Goltz, with 12,000 Prussians, followed to observe the
Russians. Prince Henry went to Breslau for his health,
and. the king took to himself the rest of Henry's army,
thus raising his strength to 50,000 men. Then ensued
some weeks of manoeuvring between Daun, with Lacy and
Loudon, and Frederick. The scene lay between Schweid-
nitz and Glatz. The king was in bad health, but his
enemies could get no advantage over him. Werner,
detached from the corps of Goltz with 5,000 men, marched
from Glogau to Colberg, 200 miles, in thirteen days, and
compelled the Russians t© raise the siege on the 18th of
September. The place had been splendidly defended by
Heyde against a besieging force of 15,000. But on the
20th of September Czernichef, with 20,000 from Sagan,
and Lacy, on the 29th with 15,000 from Daun's force in
Silesia, marched hurriedly on Berlin, and occupied the city
on the 9th of October, where the Cossacks committed some

232 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

4th Oct.. .2nd Nov. 1760.

of their usual cruelties. Prince Eugene of Wiirtemberg,
who had the Swedish business in hand this year, rushed
with 5,000 men to help Berlin, marching forty miles in
one day, and Hiilsen arrived from Saxony with 9,000.
But they could do little, and the king himself had to
leave Daun and make for Berlin on the 4th of October.
The Cossacks were playing riot, . and even the Saxons,
parties of whom were present, destroyed pictures, furniture,
and antiques at Charlottenburg. On the 11th of October
news came that Frederick was on the march, and forthwith
Russians, Austrians, and Saxons disappeared, though the
king was still five marches distant. Lacy went to Torgau
the Russians towards Landsberg.

In HUlsen's absence Torgau had been captured, and
nothing now remained of Saxony. Daun returned then
under orders from Yienna to maintain possession during
the winter. When combined with the Beichs army he was
100,000 strong, Loudon had marched for Kosel. Frederick
reinforced Goltz to about 20,000, and with 30,000 men
marched from Liibben on the 20th of October, crossed the
Elbe fourteen miles below "Wittenberg on the 26th, and
picked up Eugene and Hiilsen with their 14,000 at Jonitz
next day. The Beichs army, which was at Diiben, west of
Torgau, fell back on Leipsig. Daun moved towards them on
the 26th of October as far as Eilenburg. Frederick rushed to
Diiben on the 29th. Thence he detached Hiilsen to Leipsig
to drive the Beichs army. Hiilsen arrived on the 30th of
October in the evening, and next day pushed forward into
the town. The timorous Beichs people, the army supposed
to enforce the ban of the Empire against Frederick, had
fled homewards. Daun fell back to his entrenchments at
Torgau. Frederick formed magazines at Diiben, called
Hiilsen back to him, and on the 2nd of IKTovember marched

BATTLE OF TORGAU. 233

2.i.l-3ra Nov 1760.

in four columns against Daun at Torgau. The king's army-
lay that night at Schilda, south of Torgau. ^

The Austrian position was very strong. As it now
faced Frederick, it lay nearly along the road to Diiben ;
its left was covered by the Great Pond and the Rohr-
graben, a channel for the conveyance of water from the
heights of Siptitz, on which hill lay the main body. The
drinking water for Torgau was carried by a pipe at the
bottom of the Rohrgraben ; the stream itself was muddy
and boggy, ending in the Entefang (decoy pond for ducks),
which then broadened out into the Great Pond. The
centre and left were on, the Siptitz height, which descended
steeply to the south, less so on the north and west. The
reserve corps was behind Grosswig. The fault of the
position was that there was not full space for Daun's
65,000 men to manoeuvre, especially was the artillery
cramped for room. So Daun, still holding old-world ideas
of that arm, placed his reserve artillery in his rear — we
shall see presently with what curious result. Frederick
judged that he must fight Daun, because otherwise the
Russians would winter in his kingdom. But he also saw
that the position was too strong for a regular attack any-
where. He therefore risked a double attack, in front and
rear, hoping that it might confuse the closely-packed
Austrians. The Diagram School of Tacticians, with
Jomini at their head, can easily prove that this was a
faulty arrangement, because a perfect general would oppose
it by holding one-half of the attackers back while
marching to overwhelm the other half. But Frederick
knew Daun's character, and took the risk as the least that
he could see. His plan was to carry about half the army

^ See plan, battle of Torgau, and map above it for the marches.

234 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

3rd Nov. 1760.

round tlie Austrian right and attack the rear, while
Ziethen moved against the front. Both attacks were to
be so timed as to begin at the same moment.

At 6.30 on the morning of the 3rd of November, 1760, the
king marched to fight what was to be his last battle and
Daun's also. The march was about fourteen or fifteen
miles altogether, Ziethen' s about half as much. Neglecting
the baggage, which moved off westward of the march,
there were three columns in Frederick's half of the army.
The right column, nearest to Daun, was commanded by
the king in person, and consisted chiefly of infantry. It
was to move by Mockrehna, Weidenhayn, Neiden. Hiilsen's
column, also infantry, was to sweep further west and come
in about Elsnig. The third column, containing nearly the
whole cavalry of both wings and a few infantry, was to go
still further out and arrive also near Elsnig. Ziethen's
wing was to separate itself at the junction of the Torgau-
Leipsig road", follow that road to the Butter Street, then
along the Butter Street to the Austrian position, west of
the highest elevation of the Siptitz hill.

The success of such a manoeuvre as this depends on
accuracy of execution ; and events soon went wrong with
both wings of the Prussian army. Daun, as usual, had
placed light troops in the woods through which the
columns had to march, and was soon informed of the
king's movement. He made what shift he could to form
his troops, facing north and north-west instead of south.
Countermarching his main body so that the best regiments
would face Frederick, he left the reserve still at Grosswig,
and posted Lacy's corps between Zinna and the suburb of
Torgau, with instructions to guard what had now become
the rear of the army. The movement cost time, the space
was small. Daun saw that he could not well move the

BATTLE OF TORGAU, 235

8rd Nov. 1760.

reserve artillery at the same time, and therefore left it in
front of the new position, along the whole of which it
stretched. Archenholtz gives the number of guns as 400,
but this is probably an exaggeration. It is certain that
Daun was strong in artillery, but 400 guns would be six
per 1,000 men, without counting the battalion guns. Be
this as it may, the number was great, and the whole front
garnished with guns. The left of the main body was
throw^ back en potence. The right was covered by a series
of intricate brooks, the centre and left by an old abattis,
remaining since Prince Henry occupied the position, and
broken in parts.

Ziethen m.oved as directed till he reached the Butter
Street and began to turn up there. But there he met some
of Lacy's detachments and suffered himself to be drawn
astray by them. He deployed his columns and moved to
the right front, where he soon became engaged in a
fruitless cannonade with Lacy : fruitless because the
obstacles in his way prevented him from pushing on to
close quarters. This was the first error.

As the king's columns moved through the dripping
woods — for it was raining — the wheels of the artillery
sunk in the soft sand of the roads, and the guns were
delayed. Frederick, wishing to keep punctual appointment
with Ziethen, pushed forward with his infantry. Thus it
fell out that the right column, intended to be the first line,
arrived near Elsnig about one o'clock, alone, and almost
without artillery. Hiilsen had been delayed on the march,
and the third column, with the cavalry, had lost its way in
the woods. Frederick sent his adjutants to find and hurry
on the laggards, and began to reconnoitre Daun's line. The
right wing, which he had intended to attack, was unap-
proachable because of the boggy brooks, so he drew back

236 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

8rd Nov. 1760,

his force into the woods again, and moved to his right to
attack Daun's left, at the north-west corner, where the
potence part began and the ahattis seemed defective. Still
neither Holstein with the cavalry nor Hlllsen with the
infantry could be heard of. The sound of Ziethen's
cannonade had been heard for some time, and the
impatient king felt that his lieutenant might be beaten
alone, he knew not where, unless he himself should
strike in.

Frederick had with him only seven battalions of grena-
diers, one regiment of hussars, and Ramin's brigade ; yet
he determined to attack. The grenadiers were formed as
a front line, Ramin's brigade as a second, and his sole
artillery, twenty guns, were ordered to support the move-
ment from a position at the left of the wood. In this
campaign the germ of the modern system had been created.
The infantry was formed into brigades of about five bat-
talions each, and every brigade had attached to it a portion
of the reserve artillery — ten guns. Two such batteries
were with Frederick. It would be vain to commence an
artillery duel under such circumstances. The grenadiers
crossed the broken ahattis and moved forward to attack.
Then the Austrian guns opened fire with grape, and dealt
frightful destruction in the ranks of the grenadiers.
Stutterheim's brigade was absolutely destroyed, nearly
all the officers and men were killed and wounded by the
" hellish fire," as the king called it. The grenadiers ceased
to exist as a body. Their remnants were charged by
Austrian cavalry, and out of the seven battalions there
remained not men enough to make one. The two batteries
issued from the wood to support the attack, but were
instantly destroyed, Tempelhof, who saw the wreck, says,
" The batteries which the artillery sent to the left of the

BATTLE OF TORGAU. 237

8rd Nov. 1760.

wood were annihilated in an instant. They had not even
time to load their guns. Already the officers, the gunners,
and the drivers were either killed or wounded by the
artillery fire of the enemy." Such was the effect of
Daun's accidentally leaving a mass of artillery in front of
his army. Yet in the face of such facts as these, there are
still men who doubt the physical effect of field-artillery fire.

Seeing that the 6,000 grenadiers were reduced to 600,
certain Austrian battalions rushed out in pursuit of them,
but coming upon the second line — brigade Ramin — were
at once checked, driven back, and accompanied so closely
in their retreat that the Austrian artillery could not crush
Kamin's brigade. The brigade was, however, driven back
ere long. The fight had begun about 2 p.m. ; it was now
three, and Frederick's first column badly beaten. The
king, who had been with the grenadiers, remained per-
fectly cool. Turning to one of his adjutants, a grandson
of the old Prince of Dessau, he said mournfully, " All goes
ill to-day ; my friends are quitting me. I have just heard
of the death of your brother." This thought, occurring in
the midst of the " hellish fire," marks the character of the
man who in such a moment could sorrow over a dead
friend. Another story is told of him later in the battle,
equally characteristic. He was struck down by a spent
ball, and was unconscious for some time. Recovering
himself, he sat up and saw Berenhorst bending over him
in anxiety. In a gruff voice the king exclaimed, " What
are you doing here ? Go and catch runaways."

Shortly after three o'clock Hiilsen arrived ; the third
column not up yet. By this time a larger force of guns
was gathered, and, engaging Daun's mass, drew to them
some of its fire. Hlilsen's troops attacked again, and
actually closed with the Austrians. Some success was

238 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

3rd Nov. 1760.

gained, but Daun brought up the reserve from Grosswig
and drove Hlilsen back.

It was half-past four, and the sun had gone down when
Holstein arrived at last with the cavalry. In the growing
darkness the horsemen charged the right of -Daun's line,
while the infantry attacked again on the left. The mass
of guns was now of less use, and the cavalry had many
successes. The Austrian formation was broken, and there
ensued in the falling night a strange, confused struggle
between isolated bodies of men. The armies were inter-
mingled, and none could say what issue there would be on
the morrow, when the wearied and wounded king left the
field to seek some repose at Elsnig. Daun also was
wounded, and went back to sleep at Torgau.

But all was not yet over. Ziethen, contented at first
with his artillery play against Lacy, heard, towards even-
ing, the fire of Frederick's people receding — a bad sign.
He began to work to his left, in order to communicate
with and help the king. The ground checked him till
Mollendorf, always ready in trouble, found him a way
over the Rbhrgraben and its bogs. The road was the
Butter Street along which Ziethen was to have gone at
first. It led close to the key of the position, the highest
point of the Siptitz hill. Ziethen ai>t«,cked there, and
Hlilsen, bivouacking on the battle-field, put together what
troops he could collect and led them to the sound of
Ziethen's firing. Old HUlsen himself had no horse more ;
all his had been killed, but he went into action again,
mounted on a gun-carriage. For an hour this last struggle
raged ; then the Austrians drew back gradually to Torgau
and crossed the river, Lacy's corps moving on the hither
bank. (After_all, Ziethen had repaired his fault, and the
victory was for FrugJ

BATTLE OF TORGAU. 239

Nov. 1760.

The battle-field remained in strange confusion. Siptitz
hill was crowded with the dead and the wounded, who
suffered horribly from want of water and from the bitter
cold. Down in the woods blazed fires, where in many-
cases sat Austrians and Prussians together, agreeing that
to-morrow's dawn should decide which side had won, and
which of the parties now assembled in mutual goodwill
were victors, which prisoners.

After the battle Daun withdrew to the Plauen Chasm.
Frederick made demonstrations towards Dresden, but
finally went into winter quarters near Meissen.

The battle of Torgau cost the Austrians above 12,000
killed and wounded, with 8,000 prisoners ; total, 20,000
men, and forty-five guns. The Prussians lost between
13,000 and 14,000, of whom 4,000 were prisoners. They
lost more than 5,000 in the first attack alone, chiefly from
the fire of the great artillery mass accidentally placed in
the front of Daun's army.

(Roderick's campaign of 1760 has been much criticised,
especially by Jomini, who cannot see anything but his own
diagrams. He thinks that the king should have taken
the initiative early and marched against the Austrians.
But he forgets the great difficulties Frederick had in
assembling an army at all, and also that almost to the
last he hoped for peace. No doubt he made mistakes and
his enemies made more; but his marches, the splendid
courage and boldness of his battle-strokes, his lofty and
steadfast endurance, will remain models of military cha-
racter for all time. <^th forces greatly inferior in number
to those of his enemies, and of a quality gradually
falling off, he warded off destruction, gained two battles,
and remained victor at the end of the campaign.
Ferdinand also held his own against the French.

CHAPTER XYIII.

CAMPAIGN OF 1761. GROWING EXHAUSTION OP THE ARMIES.

CAMP OF BUNZELWITZ. LOUDON CAPTURES SCHWEIDNITZ.

- — DEATH OF THE CZARINA. PEACE WITH RUSSIA. CAM-
PAIGN OF 1762. — DAUN FORTIFIES HIMSELF TO COVER

SCHWEIDNITZ. FREDERICK TURNS HIM OUT. — SCHWEIDNITZ

RECAPTURED. PEACE OF IIUBERTSBURG. RESTORATION OF

RUINED PRUSSIA. PARTITION OF POLAND, AMBITION OF

KAISER JOSEPH LEADS TO QUASI-CAMPAIGN OF 1778-9.

A.D. 1761—1779.
^ 1761.

^!]A*ter 1760 the Seven Years' "War languished. The allies
adopted the expedient of refusing to exchange prisoners,
thus wearing out Prussia by mere friction against the vast
hosts which surrounded Frederick. The king found it
impossible to recruit his armies, and they dwindled rapidly.
/The sufferings of France were hardly possible to bear.
War was driving people into the agony which afterwards
found expression in the Ilevolution."^ Austria was pressed
for money and even men. En^and alone had gained any
real advantage so far^ The French colonies and naval
power were falling before the generals jind admirals whom
war discovered and Pitt quickly usedjL-- Wolfe's capture of
Quebec on the 13th September, 1759i decided the fate

LOSS OF HEALTH. 241

Nov. 1760.

of Canada ; tlie destruction of the French fleets in the same
year by Hawke and his comrades annihilated French power
at sea, and the fall of Pondichery on the 26th of January,
1761, left British arms without rival in India. Yet the
negotiations for peace in 1759 had failed. Bruised and
weary, the nations dragged themselves into the fight
again.

The toils and privations of war were telling on Frede-
rick. In a letter to Madame Camas, written in November,
1760, he describes himself as leading "the life of a dog."
*' All this has made me so old that you would hardly know
me again. On the right side of my head the hair is all
grey j my teeth break and fall out ; my face is wrinkled
like a petticoat ; my back bent like the bow of a fiddle ;
my spirit sad and downcast like a monk of La Trappe."
He now had frequent fits of gout, and had been forced to
give up his famous suppers for four years past. Still, with
suffering body, ruined finances, and weakened army, he
had no more thought of yielding one acre of Silesia than
he had in the first passages of the Seven Years' War.
Choiseul was negotiating for peace, but Pitt was stiff as to
the terms ; ^nd later in the year came the f am ily compact
between the courts of France and Spain, which forced
England into war with the Bourbons of Madridj.3
<^11 Frederick's exertions produced him only 96,000 men
for defence of Silesia and Saxony this year. Prince Henry
had to face Daun in Saxony ; the king himself stood in
Silesia against Loudon and the Russians under Butterlin.
Loudon opened the campaign by advancing against Goltz,
near Schweidnitz, in April. Goltz had only 12,000 to his
adversary's 30,000, but posted himself so well that Loudon
could not attack him. Beinforcements came gradually
to Loudon, raising his army to 72,000, but orders from

242 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

18th Aug.-lGth Dec. 1761.

Yienna obliged him to remain inactive till he could be
joined near Neisse by the Russians with 60,000. . Goltz,
manoeuvring against the Russians, was taken prisoner.
The king himself delayed the junction of his enemies for
some time, but could not now offer battle. The junction
took place the 18th of August. He then struck at Loudon's
communications, but the thrust was well parried, and on the
20th of Augusi^Frederick, for the first time, was reduced to
an attitude of pure defenceX He formed an intrenched
camp at Bunzelwitz, ancTlay there, blocking the way to
Schweidnitz. Loudon's intreaties could not persuade the
Russians to join him in full force to attack the position,
and on the 9th of September Butterlin's army fell back across
the Oder, leaving 20,000 of his men to act under Loudon.
Frederick remained a fortnight longer in the camp of
Bunzelwitz, but was then forced to go, as his army was
eating up the magazines of Schweidnitz. Again he moved
against Loudon's magazines, but the Austrian general
boldly marched for Schweidnitz, and captured the place by
assault on the night of the 30th September — 1st October.
No fight toojk place between Loudon and the king. They
both went into winter quarters in December — Prussians
at Strehlen, Austrians at Kunzendorf, and Russians about
Glatz. Frederick went to Breslau, after escaping by a
hair's breadth an attempt to capture his person by the
treachery of Warkotsch. Colberg, besieged for the third
time, was splendidly defended by Heyde, but had to
capitulate on the 16th of December from lack of provisions.
{^^ the western theatre Ferdinand defeated Broglio and
Soubise at Yellinghausen, the English contingent again
behaving gloriously. Major Mauvillon speaks of the Eng-
lish as thoroughly brave, but so mixed in character of the
men that it was almost impossible to preserve discipline in

ENGLISH MILITARY CHARACTER. 243

1761-1762.

the way of drink and plunder. " Tie cavalry exhaust a
district much sooner than the horse of other armies. The
officers, who gain their promotion by purchase, understand,
with few exceptions, nothing of their profession. Generals
and ensigns, it is all the same. Their self-indulgence is so
great, especially in sleep, that they are often led into mili-
tary negligence. Seldom thinking of surprising, they are
themselves exposed to surprise ; and a natural arrogance of
character leads them to despise their enemy, and to be
exceedingly difficult to work with harmoniously." Such was
a faithful portrait of the English in the Seven Years' War.
Gallant fighters, but not professional soldiers.

Prince Henry and Daun manoeuvred skilfully through-
out the campaign, but never came to serious blows.

Frederick is described as being very gloomy in mind
this winter. The end of the year left him with but 60,000
men in Saxony, Silesia, and the north. Eugene of Wur-
temburg had 5,000 to hold back the SwedesJrince Henry
25,000 in Saxony, the king himself 30,000. (^ut the agony
of France was increasing ; Maria Theresa hacl to discharge
20,000 men from want of money, and Frederick's bitter
enemy, "cette infame Catin du Nord," was failing fast in
health. A worse blow to the king than the loss of a
battle had been the fall of Pitt in October, and with him
all hope of English subsidies^ !StiTl7 the enemies of Prussia
were almost exhausted. One more year of brave and stub-
born resistance, and Prussia must be left in peace. By
extraordinary exertions and a power of administrative
organisation, which was one of his greatest qualities
Frederick not only kept up his 60,000, but doubled their
number. In the spring he had 70,000 for his Silesian
army, 40,000 for Prince Henry in Saxony, and 10,000 for
the Swedes or other purposes. Best news of all, the

R 2

244 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

J,^ 6th Jan. -20th July 1762.

(^Uzarina died on the Stli of January, 1762, and Peter, "who
succeeded her — only for a short time, poor boy — was an
ardent admirer of the great Jting.) Frederick at once re-
leased and sent home his Russian prisoners, an act which
brought back his Prussians from Eussia. On the 23rd
FebruaryvEeteiLdeclax^ -his intention to be at peace and
amity with Frederick, concluded peace on the 5th of May,
and a treaty of alliance a month later. The Swedes, follow-
ing suit, declared peace on the 22nd of May, and Frederick
could now give his sole attention to the Austria ns. \ He
even believed that the Grand Turk was about to seize the
opportunity and invade Hungary. Czernichef, with the
contingent once on Loudon's side, was now allied to Frede-
rick, but little value came of him. Loudon had done too
much last year to please his rivals, and was now placed
under the orders of slow Daun, who again undertook the
Silesian struggle, only the Keich's army being used for
Saxony. Amalgamated with the Eeich people were
35,000 Austrians under Serbelloni.

Daun took the field early in May, disposing his troops
for the defence of Schweidnitz. Frederick awaited the
junction of Gzernichef with his 20,000, who arrived at
Lissa, near Leuthen, the 30th of June, and the king at once
began to manoeuvre against Daun. The Austrians took up
a strong position and fortified it. Frederick formed a plan
to attack it, when, on the 17th of July, Czernichef informed
him that there was a revolution at Petersburg and the
Russian contingent was ordered home. Frederick, fertile
in resources, persuaded Czernichef at least to keep the
change secret, and to look like an ally for three days more.
He disposed his troops, including the Russians, so as to
threaten apparently different points round the circle of
Daun's fortified hills. On the 20th of July he drove the

RECAPTURE OF SCHWEIDNITZ. 245

20th July-29th Oct. 1762.

Aiistrians out of the village of Burkersdorf and established
there a battery of forty guns. Of all the dispositions he
had made, only two forces were to act in reality. All the
rest, including Czernichef, was mere semblance. Wied,
with one force, was to attack Ludwigsdorf ; Mollendorf,
with another detachment, was to carry the Burkersdorf
heights as soon as Wied had performed his part of the
business. It was not a battle, strictly speaking, only a
combination of small operations intended to make Daun
move. Everything went according to calculation. The
forty guns made a great noise against enemies who kept
well out of the way, except one cavalry regiment which
appeared and was crushed by the fire of the artillery.
Wied carried the position assigned him for attack, and
Mollendorf was equally successful. As usual, the fortified
position was a failure when firmly attacked, and Daun,
declining to fight a general action, retired southwards in
the evening. The king then laid siege to Schweidnitz
which resisted bravely, defended by Guasco, but fell on
the 9th of October, after the explosion ofjj magazine two
days before had breached the works. U^un retired to
Glatz and Bohemia. Frederick marched on the 29th of
October to besiege Dresden^ Daun followed heavily.
Like a prize-fighter knockeiJout of time, he had no more
fight in him.

Prince Henry had two affairs with the Reich's army and
its Austrian contingent. Forced to retire from Freyburg
on the 15th, he afterwards attacked them on the 29th of
October and defeated them by a turning movement. They
had 40,000, he 30,000. The Austrian contingent suffered
most.

/in the western theatre Ferdinand held his own and had
His'usual successes. His part in the war was to defend

246 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

15th Feb. -30th March, 1763.

only, and he never failed to show high qualities as a
general.j,

Thus, nowhere had Frederick's enemies succeeded in
crushing his defences. For seven years the little kingdom
of Prussia had held her ground against the three great
military powers, France, Austria, and E-ussia. All were
now equally exhausted. L The constancy, courage, and
ability of Frederick were rewarded at last ; on the 15th
of February, 1763, the treaty of Hubertsburg was signed,
by which Austria once more agreed to the cession of Sil esiaTj
Prussia was now a Great Power like the rest, her greatness
resting on no shams, as she had proved.(Jlngland had her
freedom of the seas, America was for ever to be English
as it is to this day, though not under our QueenJ The
enormous responsibility of India also fell upon this country
— a great glory and a great danger^Jk^rance took her
natural place instead of that which Belle-Isle had devised
for her. Her kings had gambled with the stolen pros-
perity of the nation as their stake, and all they had won was
the place of a public byword for all time. Revolution had
been brewing for many a year. The Seven Years' War
with the sufferings entailed on the people brought the
convulsion nearer.

On the 30th of March, Frederick reached Berlin, entering
the city quietly. He went straight to the queen's apart-
ments and supped there. At last the longed-for peace
had come. Prussia, then, had issued victorious out of the
war ; but how terrible had been her sacrifices ! Whole
districts had been so ravaged that the traces of the houses
were hard to discover. Towns ruined and partly burnt.
No fields sown, no corn to make bread. Sixty thousa,nd
horses required before the ground could be ploughed. (LThe
population of the country was reduced by half a million

RESTORATION OF PRUSSIA. 247

1763-1779.

and was now only four millions, tliat is, the people had
been more than decimated. ^^ In some places noble and
peasant alike were ruined. Tradesmen dare give no credit.
The towns had no police and no judges ; sometimes not even
tax-gatherers. The people had fallen into ways of license,
and those who had means were become avaricious, grasping,
and oppressive to their neighbours.

/Frederick set to work at once. Fortunately he had
twenty-five millions of thalers collected in preparation for
the next campaign. He supplied money to the most
necessitous, and seed-corn where there was none. He
turned all his artillery horses into teams for the plough,
established banks for lending money on landed security,
re-created the law courts and the police. The coinage was
restored to its former state in fourteen months. In two
years the country was reviving, and in seven most of the
traces of war had disappeared. This renovation was per-
haps the greatest labour of his life, certainly that in which
he took most pride.

Some of his measures were ill-judged. For instance, he
imported from France the system of gathering taxes and
the very men to carry it out, for he had few capable left in
his own dominions. To fill his own treasury for the cost
of government and the chances of war, he had a whole
corps of financial inquisitors, who came to be called " cellar-
rats " among the people-. No house, no room was secure
from their visitations. They entered private dwellings
when they pleased, by day or by night, to search for things
contraband. Their decisions were arbitrary, and there was
no appeal but to the king. It was even said that they
introduced contraband goods in order to exact unjust fines.
Such hard measure dealt to an impoverished people caused
an access of unpopularity. Yet Frederick was harder on the

248 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1763-1779.

comparatively well-to-do than on the poorer classes, which
he won by his kindly, familiar ways.

One day, riding through the streets of Berlin, he saw a
crowd of people craning their necks to look at a picture
posted high up on a wall. Going up to examine it he found
that it was a caricature of himself, as a miser, grinding
coffee. He ordered his groom to hang it lower, so that the
people should not make their necks ache with looking at it.
Instantly the crowd cheered him and tore the print into
a thousand pieces. Another time it was proposed to him
to lay a tax on butchers' meat. ** No," said the king, '* I
am by my office advocate of the poor and the soldier, and
have to plead their cause." Yet he was the advocate of
women also, even in high station. We have seen how he
told his secretaries always to write courteously to women.
When one of his cellar-rats treated the Princess Elizabeth
of Brunswick discourteously in the matter of a dress which
came direct from France, that noble lady slapped his face.
The man complained to the king of the dishonour done to
him, but Frederick replied, " The loss of the excise dues
shall fall upon me, the dress shall remain with the princess,
the slaps to him who has received them. As to the alleged
dishonour, I entirely relieve the complainant from that :
never can the touch of a beautiful hand dishonour the face
of an officer of customs."

There has been much controversy on the good and evil
of Frederick's measures. Into this question we cannot
enter here. The idea of free trade had not then been
invented, nor has it yet taken much root in Germany. Like
all other monarchs of that time, Frederick regarded his
people as children, whose purses, habits, and lives it was his
duty to regulate. Unlike other crowned heads, he laboured
incessantly for what he believed to be the good of his

FREDERICK'S JUSTICE. 24d

1763-1779. *

people, and his measures, right and wrong, issued finally
in prosperity for Prussia. During all his financial and
magisterial work he never forgot the army. He was as
strict with the officers as if in the presence of an enemy,
and any whose regiments had to receive blame at the
parades and manoeuvres found themselves dismissed into
oblivion without mercy.

In 1779 occurred the famous case of the miller Arnold.
The rights of the question matter little. A mill was
rented by Arnold and the rent punctually paid till a landed
proprietor, higher up the stream, diverted most of the
water to fill a fish pond. Arnold could no longer pay rent,
and in process of time was turned out and the mill sold
over his head. The law gave judgment against the miller,
who appealed to the king. Frederick, a believer in military
sense and equity, appointed a colonel to revise the judg-
ment of the lawyers. The officer reported in Arnold's
favour, but the High Court of Berlin confirmed the decision
against him. Frederick clapped the judges in prison and
ordered his minister of justice, von Zedlitz, to pronounce
sentence of deprivation upon them. Zedlitz firmly, but
respectfully refused. Frederick again ordered, and threat-
ened him with his displeasure. Zedlitz was still immovable,
and at last the king wrote the sentence of deprivation
himself and had it carried out, though society of all ranks
in Berlin supported the judges. Zedlitz, instead of punish-
ment, received commendation from Frederick for acting
according to his conscience. This was Frederick's idea of
reforming judicial administration. It will hardly commend
itself to English opinion, and was, in fact, arbitrary to an
extreme degree. Still there ran through the whole tissue
of extravagant self-will a golden cord of support to the poor
and weak against the powerful.

250 FREDERICK THE GREAT,

■ 1763-1779.

His curious tolerance of religious opinions is shown in a
letter written by him in 1768, wherein he says : —

" It is unfortunate for the human race, madam, that men cannot
be tranquil — but they never and nowhere can. A parson (at
Neufchatel) had set forth in a sermon that, considering the
immense mercy of God, the pains of hell could not last for ever.
The synod shouted murder at such a scandal, and has been
struggling ever since to get the parson exterminated. The affair
was in my jurisdiction, for your royal highness must know
that I am pope in that country. Here is my decision. Let those
parsons who make for themselves a cruel and barbarous God be
eternally damned as they desire and deserve ; and let the parsons
who conceive God as good and merciful enjoy the plenitude of
His mercy. However, madam, my sentence has failed to calm
men's minds ; the schism continues, and the number of the
damnatory theologians prevails over the others."

What horror such lax theology must have created at the
time ! How mild and just it seems now \
C^^^All the acts of Frederick's declining years sink into
insignificance beside the partition of Pnlajid j It seemed
cruel and cold-blooded at the time. Its consequences have
affected Europe to this day and will continue ta affect it.
The partition came about in this wise, ^n gland, changing
her policy when Bute succeeded Pitt, turned her back upon
Frederick and would have left him to destruction. France
and Austria remained bitter against him. The situation
of Prussia forced her to have a strong friend, and the king
rested upon Russia, with which power he cemented a firm
alliance. J^But Russia had obtained almost complete in-
fluencfe-Oyer PoIan3"'7hiring the Seven Years' War, when
the unfortunate little kingdom had always been a base of
operations for the Russian armies. So great was this
infiuence that the Czarina was able to seat on the Polish

PARTITION OF POLAND. 251

1V68-1772

throne soon after the peace, one of her discarded lovers,
Stanislaus Poniatowski. Poland was little more than a
Russian province when the Confederation of Bar, formed by
a party of nobles in 1768, took up arms in defence of the
liberties of their country. T^ Russians defeated them
and drove them into Turkey. - The Turks declared war on
Eussia, but had no success, and had to see Moldayia^and
Wallachia — now Roumania — overrun by the enemyV^JIhen,
as now, Austria could not bear to see Russia pushing con-
quests across the Danube, and accordingly mobilised an
army on the frontiers, threatening war against Russia. By
his treaty of alliance with the Czarina, Frederick was
bound to furnish either a contingent of troops or a large
sum in money if Russia should go to war. ^This was in-
convenient to him, and there was even a worseManger. It
might be that Austria and Russia should agree to divide
Turkey between them and then break up Prussia. I do
not care to split hairs over the question, " Who first pro-
posed the partition of Poland 1 " It seems certain that, in
the later stages at any rate, Frederick was the most
energetic in pushing the affair. He has never attempted
to defend himself, nQ^r did he even seem to think that the
step needed defence. The Czarina, like Frederick, never
thought of making a difficulty about it, and agreed to stay
her hand in the south in consideration of Austria's co-
operation in the partition of Poland. Maria Theresa alone
showed human feeling and a sense of political morality.
Her letter to Kaunitz, written in February, 1772, strikes
the true note of the judgment of history on this question.
She says : *' When all my lands were invaded, and I knew
not where I could give birth to my child in peace, I trusted
in my good right and the help of God, but in this thing,
where not only public law cries to Heaven against us, but

252 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1772.

also all justice and sound reason, I must confess that never
in my life have I been so troubled, and I am ashamed to
show my face. Let the prince [Kaunitz, her first minister]
consider what an example we are giving to the whole
world if we risk our honour and reputation for a miserable
piece of Poland or of Moldavia and Wallachia. I see well
that I am alone and no longer in vigour ; therefore, though
not without the greatest sorrow, I let things take their
course." A few days after her official assent was given in
these words : " JiFlaceti since so many great and learned
men will have it so ; \lQut long after I am dead it will be ; «-
known what this violation of all that was hitherto held V^-^^-^
sacred and just will give rise to;' ^Ttf Frederick was in
advance of his time in religious toleimion, Maria Theresa
was so in political morali ty\ Yet it must not be forgotten
that the Seven Years' War was brought about because she
had agreed with E-ussia and France to partition Prussia,
the King of Poland being a consenting party. We have
also to consider that the freedom of Poland was past
praying for. The country would soon have been annexed
by Pussia. There was no political morality to hinder that.
The partition took place iiijYT2>x The portion assigned
to Frederick comprised 9,465 square miles, against 62,500
acquired by Austria and 87,500 by Russia. But the
territory was important,^r it connected east Prussia with
Pomerania and the rest of Frederick's dominions^ Above
all, the partition staved off a general war. Poor Poland
went forth into the desert as the scapegoat of Europe.
Since then the cries of the Russian Poles have never
ceased their shrill lament in the ears of the civilised
world ; he would be a bold man who should say
that Maria Theresa's prophecy is not still awaiting ful-
filment. Besides their undoubted courage and patriotism,

PARTITION OF POLAND, 253

1772.

the Poles, like the Italians before they were free, have a
sort of feminine power of exciting sympathy. The outer
world has for many years gazed more or less calmly upon
the moral and physical suffering of Christian populations
under the Turks ; Alsace and Lorraine have been tossed
from Germany to France and from France to Germany ;
Denmark has been crushed and partitioned ; Nice and
Savoy, the very birthplace of the royal house of Italy,
have been sold to France for her help in a war. Yet
never have the woes of Armenia, or even, except for
a brief interval, of Bulgaria, created so much sympathy
as those of Poland. Denmark, Alsace, Lorraine, Nice,
Savoy, are interesting to their immediate neighbours ; the
heart of Europe has almost forgotten them. To this
very day the destruction of Polish nationality is felt like
a new wound by every generous s,oul. (^he sorrows of
Poland are the sorrows of the world^)

Frederick found his new acquisition in a miserable state.
Keligious persecution had been rampant in the land.
Only a few German towns were intact. The rest lay
almost in ruins. The people had ceased to inhabit the
houses, which were tumbling about their ears, but dwelt
in wretched . cellars. Of the forty houses in the market-
place at Culm, twenty-eight had no doors, no roofs, no
windows, and no owners. Other towns were in a similar
condition. The country people hardly knew the taste of
bread. Few villages possessed an oven. The weaving
loom was rare, the spinning-wheel unknown. The main
article of furniture was a crucifix and a vessel of holy
water. It was a desolate land without discipline, without
law, without a master. On 9,000 English square miles
lived 500,000 souls, about fifty-five to the square mile.^
' Freytag, Neue Bilder aus dem Lebendeutsches Volkes. Leipzig, 1862.

/

254. FREDERICK THE GREAT.

/^ 1772-1778.

At the toucli of Frederick's vivifying and reorganising
hand, these horrors of darkness were put to flight. The
country was organised on the Prussian system, and German
order soon prevailed. The cities were re-peopled, and new
streets arose. In the first year the great canal of Bromberg
was dug, which connects the Vistula with the Oder and
the Elbe ; vast tracts of land were drained by the canal
and immediately peopled by German colonists. The face of
Prussian Poland was changed and a new life was infused
into the country. As with Prussia, so with Poland.
Frederick was arbitrary in his regulations ; but at least he
transformed misery into comparative comfort and brought
order out of chaos.

\The partition of Poland salved for a time the soreness
of Austria ; but the Emperor Joseph, who had succeeded
his father in 1765, was full of ambition. He professed
the greatest admiration for Frederick. Yet in 1775, when
the king had a fit of gout and reports were spread abroad!
that he was dying, Joseph prepared an army and arranged
for its concentration in Bohemia, whence it was to march
through Saxony to the frontiers of Brandenburg, and there
give the new king the alternative of surrendering Silesia
or being overwhelmed before he could assemble his troops.
Frederick recovered, and was informed of the preparations,
which, of course, collapsed instantly. /It would be well if
those who never tire of proclaiming Frederick's bad faith,
would sometimes deign to remember the conduct of his
rivals^

r In i778 the Emperor Joseph claimed a large portion of
the Bavarian inheritance, just fallen in by the death of
the elector without issue. Frederick distinctly vetoed the
transaction. He proclaimed himself the champion of the
other claimants and the protector of that Reich, which had

QUASI-WAR WITH AUSTRIA. 255

1778-1 3th May 1779.

placed him under its ban some years before. As the
negotiations went on, step by step, and seemed less likely
to reach a favourable end, the king's military measures
were gradually taken. He was to march on Bohemia by
Glatz and Nachod, while Prince Henry, with an equal force,
moved by Dresden. The plan was exactly similar to the
campaign of 1866, and must have had a similar termina-
tion, for the Austrians were not ready. But Frederick
did not wish for war. One delay succeeded another, and
when at last the king and Prince Henry moved they found
Loudon and Lacy with 250,000 men occupying a strong
intrenched camp which lay between the two Prussian
armies and prevented their junction. Nearly fifty miles of
country was intrenched in a masterly manner, no less than
1,500 guns being placed in advantageous positions. In his
youth the king would undoubtedly have attacked and
carried some portion of this position, and the young blood
of his army chafed against his inaction. But, like most
men who know war well, he had conceived a horror of it,
and was determined not to strike a blow without absolute
necessity. So passed the summer, autumn, and the early
/Winter, the king having started from Berlin on April 5th.
I On November the 27th the Czarina Catherine interfered
and offered to mediate. Her offer was snatched at by both
the combatants. /' Austria had to relinquish her claims, but
the affair was not concluded until May 13th, 1779, when
Frederick returned to Berlin, happy that he had, not been
forced to buy glory with the lives of his subjects)

CHAPTER XIX.

DEATH OP MARIA THERESA IN 1780. — FREDERICK'S SHARP
CRITICISM OF HIS GENERALS AT AUTUMN MANOEUVRES. —

INSPECTION OF SILESIAN ARMY. CATCHES A CHILL. LAST

ILLNESS. — DEATH IN 1786. — HIS CHARACTER AS A KING, A
SOLDIER, A MAN.

A.D. 1780—1786.

Frederick was now an old man, long ago disenchanted
with military glory, fame, and even friendship. Nearly
all his old friends had dropped round him one by one, and
he was now to lose his old enemy Maria Theresa. For
fifteen years she had sorrowed for her husband, with a
grief, the loneliness of which can perhaps only be under-
stood by women whose station is exalted above the consola-
tions of ordinary human life. Like one whose sorrows have
been shared by every inhabitant of these isles, she con-
tinued to wear widow's weeds. The 18th of every month
was spent by her in solitary prayer. On the 18th of
August she always descended to the vaults where the body
of Kaizer Frantz lay, and sat in meditation beside his
coffin ; faithful beyond death, though in her case the man
whom she mourned had been a burden to her rather than
a guide and counseller. In November, 1780, she caught

DEATH OF MARIA THERESA, 257

Wth Nov. 1780-23rd July 1785.

a chill which fell upon her lungs and she sank quickly.
When the hour of death approached she refused to sleep,
saying, " For fifteen years 1 have been making ready for
death. I must meet him awake.'* She died on the 29th
of November, ITSg?

Her son Joseph soon gave loose to his ambitious schemes.
He was possessed of very considerable talent, resolution,
and energy. His designs for reform and aggrandisement
of his country were magnificent, only, as Frederick said of
him, he had the fault of generally taking the second step
without having taken the first. He was quite as arbitrary
as the Prussian king, swept away routine in every direction,
and was even known to set peccant high officials in the
pillory, or to make them sweep the streets in Vienna.
Absolute monarchy had its freaks in every country, little
dreaming of the revolution which was so near at hand.
(Joseph revived the designs upon Bavaria and intrigued
Against Frederick with the Czarina. But his conduct
aroused the terror of the other German states, and Frederick
succeeded in forming the Fiirstenbund, or league of princes,
to resist the encroachments of Austria and place Prussia
in the position of guardian to German liberties/^ If this had
happened a few years earlier, it is probable that the
transfer of the kaisership from the Austrian to the
Prussian house might have been anticipated by a century.
But the FUrstenbund was only founded definitely on the
23rd of July, 1785, when Frederick was rapidly failing in
strength and had but another year to live.

During the autumn manoeuvres in Silesia the year before,
Frederick had been greatly disappointed at the want of
tactical knowledge displayed by some of the generals,
who had committed exactly the same faults that we see
at autumn manoeuvres now. In a letter to General von

3

258 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1784.

Tauentzien, the same who had defended Breslau so well
against Loudon and who was now Inspector- General of
Silesia, the king spoke very sharply, "Were I to make
shoemakers or tailors into generals the regiments could
not be worse." One regiment, he said, was not fit to be
the poorest militia battalion ; in another, the men were
so spoiled by smuggling that they had no resemblance to
soldiers ; whilst a third was like a heap of undrilled boors.
As for tactics, " Schwartz, at Neisse, made the unpardon-
able mistake of not sufficiently occupying the height on the
left wing." One can imagine him thinking of Hochkirch
and the Stromberg. *' Had it been serious the battle had
been lost. At Breslau, Erlach, instead of covering the
army by seizing the heights, marched off with his division
straight as a row of cabbages into that defile, whereby, had it
been real war, the enemy's cavalry would have cut down our
infantry and the fight been lost. It is not my purpose to lose
battles by the base conduct of my generals ; wherefore I
hereby appoint that you next year, if I be alive, assemble the
army between Breslau and Ohlau, and for four days before
I arrive in your camp carefully manoeuvre with the ignorant
generals and teach them what their duty is. Regiment
von Arnim and garrison-regiment von Kanitz are to act as
enemy ; and whoever does not then fulfil his duty shall be
brought before a court-martial ; for I should think it shame
of any country to keep such people who trouble themselves
so little about their business. Erlach will remain four
weeks longer in arrest. You are to make known this my
present declared will to your whole inspection." This
specimen of Frederick's dealing with inefficient officers may
serve to show how terribly in earnest he was, and, to some
extent also, why the Prussian army was then, and has since
been, so tremendous a weapon in the hand of those who

FREDERICK'S LAST ILLNESS. 259

20th Aug. 1785-1786.

have known how to use it. Next year, 1785, he again
appeared in Silesia. The manoeuvres began on Saturday,
August the 20th, and lasted till Thursday the 25th. Many
foreign officers were present, among others Lafayette,
Lord Cornwallis, and the Duke of York. On the Wednesday
rain fell in torrents, yet so intent was the king upon his
business that he remained on horseback from the be-
ginning, at five o'clock in the morning, till the end of the
manoeuvres after ten o'clock, riding about on horseback, as
the present Emperor of Germany does, and watching every-
thing with a keen eye. He did not even put on his cloak,
and was so thoroughly wet through, that, when he returned
to head-quarters and changed his clothes, the water is said
to have poured out of his long boots as if they were a pair
of pails. The chill which he caught settled on his body,
wearied with war, and he was now seventy-three years old,
too aged to shake it off. Still he completed his Silesian
inspections, returned to Berlin for an artillery review on
September the 10th, and made no complaint of his health.
On the night of the 18th he was seized with a fit of suffo-
cation, and from that time failed rapidly. In January,
1786, symptoms of asthma and dropsy appeared, and he
w^as unable to sleep, except in an arm-chair, for fear of
suffocation. Still he lingered on, always as attentive to
business as he had ever been. In the summer he was seen
on horseback again, but only for very short exercise. His
longest ride was two miles. Erysipelas came in addition to
the asthma and dropsy. He could hardly ever sleep, and
said one morning to some one who came in, " If you
happened to want a night-watcher I should suit you well."
Having for some years past begun work with the clerks
about six or seven o'clock in the morning, he now ordered
them to come at four A.M., saying, "My situation forces

s 2

260 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

14th July-lOth Aug. 1785.

me to give them this trouble, which they will not have to
suffer long. My life is on the decline, the time which I
still have I must employ, it belongs not to me but to the
state." His last letter was written to his sister, the
Duchess Dowager of Brunswick, on the 10th of August.
In it he says, " The old must give place to the young,
that each generation may find room clear for it ; and life, if
we examine strictly what its course is, consists in seeing
one's fellow-creatures die and be born." Still his attention
to business was unwearied. His last minute was to De
Launay, head of the excise. "Your account of receipts
and expenditures came to hand yesterday, the 13th, but is
much too slight. I require one in more detail" And he
explained shortly and clearly what details he required.

Next morning, Tuesday, August the 15th, the king did
not wake till eleven o'clock. On arousing he seemed at first
confused, but called in his generals and secretaries and did
busioess with them, giving minute directions with regard
to a review at Potsdam next day, and, among other things,
dictated to his clerks an instruction for an ambassador just
leaving, ** four quarto pages, which," says Hertzberg,
" would have done honour to the most experienced minister."

On Wednesday morning, August the 16th, 1786, the gene-
rals and secretaries came as usual for business, but came
in vain. All through the early hours the king lay in ster-
torous slumber, unconscious save at fleeting moments. In
one of these he tried to give to the commandant the usual
parole, but found he could not speak. An expression of
sorrow passed over his face. He turned his head and sank
back into the corner of his chair. Towards evening the
king fell into a soft sleep, but soon awoke complaining of
cold. It was the chill of death. When the clock struck
eleven he asked, *' What o'clock % " They answered,

DEATH OF FREDERICK, 261

16th Aug. 1786.

*' Eleven." He murmured, "I will rise at four.'* About
midnight he noticed that one of his dogs, which sat on a
stool near him, was shivering with cold. " Throw a quilt
over it," said he j and these were his last conscious words,
Striitski, one of his three faithful valets, took the king on
his knee to save him from doubling up in the corner of his
chair. For two hours Frederick sat thus, with his right
arm around Striitski' s neck, Striitski kneeling on his right
knee with his left arm supporting the king's back and
shoulders. In this position, at twenty minutes past two,
the sufferer drew his last breath. Frederick the Great
was no more. No beloved woman was there to soothe his
last moments, no children to receive his last blessing, [^e
died, as he had lived for many years, a dutiful worker to
the last, but in spirit absolutely alone?^; Across the dark
river Maria Theresa thought she saw awaiting her the
spirit of a husband with outstretched arms. Frederick
had no such vision. To him death meant total oblivion.

A century has passed since the death of Frederick, and
the world has not yet agreed what his character was as a
king, a soldier, or a man. JLt was natural that during his
life he should have many bitter enemies and a few fervent
friends ; for he was possessed of an absolute will and the
power to crush those who opposed him. But it is remark-
able that his name should continue to be idolised by one
portion of mankind and detested by another. English
opinion seems to have generally mixed the life of Frederick
the Great with that of his father, and has attributed to
the son qualities and eccentricities which he did not possess.
There is the less need for this because Frederick displayed
startling characteristics of his own. Carlyle, in a book
the genius of which becomes more striking as it grows
more familiar, has made a grand defence of his favourite

262 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1786.

hero, obscuring his defects and pointing triumphantly to
his shining virtues. The only result has been that Carlyle
has been considered as eccentric as Frederick. For all that,
French writers have largely accepted the facts and the
deductions of the English philosopher and wit, whose
history at least approaches nearer to accuracy than that of
Voltaire. Quite lately, the Due de Broglie has taken upon
himself the office of devil's advocate in opposition to the
canonisation proposed by Carlyle ; but his book,^ more
forensic than judicial, must impress the attentive reader
with the conviction that all the royal houses and diplo-
matists of Europe are put out of court by their own
misdeeds when they pose as critics of Frederick,
f When Frederick came to the throne, France was dis-
tinctly the leading power of Europe. Her diplomatic
subtlety and her arms had prevailed to put her in the first
place of the first rank. Her comparative refinement, the
brillancy of her court, which attracted all the wit and
wisdom of Europe, enabled her to claim for herself the
position of leader in civilisation. The literature, the
manners, and even the persons of other nations and other
courts were treated with ridicule and made the butt for
every shaft of French wit. No object had seemed more
laughable to the French nation than the court of what
was considered that little upstart power — Prussia, under
Frederick William. As for the political position of France
it is enough to remember that the designs of Belle-Isle
were considered possible. So far as Prussia was concerned,
the intention evidently was to use her for the moment and
then throw her away like an old glove. France had been
paid heavily, by Alsace and Lorraine, for a formal treaty,

1 Frederic deux et Marie TherSse d'apres des documents nouveaux,
1740—1742. Paris, 1883.

EIS CUARA CTER. 263

in which she bound herself not only to agree to the Prag-
matic sanction, but to defend it by force of arms if neces-
sary. When the time came, France first shuffled and then
declared against the claims of Maria Theresa A Belle-Isle's
schemes were to make his country, not the arbitress only,
but the tyrant of Europe in politics, in arts, and in arms.

Then arose upon the horizon a new planet, with the
brightness of a sun and the strangeness of a comet. It
came from the dark regions of the north and flamed sud-
denly in the political sky, attracting all Europe by its
lurid brilliancy. The wit, the diplomatic wiles, and the
arms of France paled before it. Not only did Paris, hitherto
the home of all that was bright and clever, now seem dull
in comparison, but even the first Frenchmen of the day
flew to Berlin to worship the rising sun. The arbitress of
Europe became a weeping Niobe ; her sons slain by the
shafts of the new Apollo, or seduced by his attractions.
It is impossible to conceive a blow more bitter to the
vanity of a nation, nor can there be any wonder that
France was and remains the bitterest enemy of that
Germany by which she was so completely eclipsed. Yet
/^t'rance has no right to complain of Frederick, because he
only treated her as ^e would have treated him but for his

surpassing ability, y In turning to Austria, it is but simple
justice to separate between the crown, with its claims, and
the noble woman who was to wear it. For centuries Austria
had been strong, self-willed, and oppressive. Young Prussia
had not been allowed room to grow and expand. Prussia
was the young and weak ; Austria, the old and strong,
held towards Prussia, upon the soil of central Europe,
much the samQ position as Spain occupied towards England
on the ocean. The opportunity came both to Prussia and\
to England when Austria and Spain were growing weak. ]

264 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

17P6.

It was an accident of history that the noble Maria Theresa
was the one to suffer for the accumulated misdeeds of the
Austrian dynasty. Frederick determined to close the
account by acquiring Silesia ; and if in that respect his
conduct was wrong, when judged from the standpoint of
modern morality, it was at least inapcor dance with the
ideas and the habits of his time, f Compared with the
actions of France, Frederick's political sin appears mild
by contrast, j

•Then as to the means which were used. It is abundantly
evident that all the kings and all the ministers were
straining every nerve to cheat each other. Even the Due
de Broglie admits that it was an " encounter of wits," in
which Frederick gained the victory. He was not in the
least proud of it, neither was he ashamed. With capacity
for far higher things, he seems to have regarded himself
as a civilised man among savages, obliged to save his life
by answering lies with lies. In the midst of the political
and military embroglio during the early Silesian wars,
Frederick wrote thus to Pode^ils : " We are dealing on
the one side with the most headstrong people in Europe
[the AustriansVand on the other with the most ambitious
[the French], (^o go on playing the part of an honest man
with rogues is a perilous thing ; to be cunning wiish deceivers
is a desperate game and its success equivocal. What then
is to be done ? War and negotiation % That is just what
your humble servant and his ministers are doing^ If there
is anything to be gained by being honest, we will be so. If
it is necessary to dupe, let us be rogues." Here we have
the clearest possible profession of what may be called
political immorality, quite text enough for a long sermon
on the wickedness of Frederick. But those who wish to'
see clearly the character of this remarkable man will

CHARACTER AS A SOLDIER. 265

1786. A .i

observe that /in this and other cynical speeches, he onjy I
professed what others practised without professing. J (^e ^ '
did not pay to virtue that homage of vice — hypocrisy.
Others vprofessing to be true and noble acted ignobly and
vilely. ^Frederick's actions were no better, but he did not
pretend that they were. It is not often that a man at
thirty years of age refuses himself even the indulgence of
illusions as to his own conduct. Frederick was a great
worker, and continually kept before himself the idea that
he was the shepherd of his people. The marvellous ad-
ministrative faculty and the fertility of resource, which '
enabled him with a mere handful of people at his back to
bring, year after year, fresh armies into the field, is almost
unequalled in history; but the king would rather have
rested his fame on the talents which produced the renovation
of Prussia. Hard-handed and arbitrary as he was some-
times, his people loved him, and perhaps a weaker hand
could not have guided the vessel of state into safety.

As a soldier, Frederick certainly deserves the credit of
having restored a brilliant style of campaigning which had
fallen into abeyance for ages. His strategy was sometimes
at fault, but his critics have not sufficiently borne in mind
the fact that he was hampered by political considerations, i

(Hardly a winter passed during the Seven Years' "War I
without finding him or his friends negotiating for peace.) ^
The conception of his campaigns was not equal to that of '
Napoleon, nor is there much in his general strategy to
commend itself to students of war. His tactics on the
field of battle were for the most part superb. Having
made his army superior in quality, he never stayed to count

t numbers but attacked boldly and skilfully, thus poizing for
himself the mighty power of The Initiative. When he
was absent from any part of his dominions the enemy

T

266 FREDERICK THE GREAT.

1786.

gained some advantage there. He appeared and fought —
resistance collapsed before him. Yet his actions as a
general were frequently marred by a passionate self-will,
which more than once lost him a battle. He was not
perfect as a soldier any more than as a king or as a man.
Yet his figure will always occupy one of the most dis-
tinguished places in the military Pantheon. He possessed
in a high degree the great art of obtaining complete com-
mand over the hearts and the minds of his soldiers.
He was a very strict disciplinarian but perfectly familar
with his men, who bandied rough jokes with him
when he was pleased and wept when he was angry with
them. They would rather die with him than live with
other generals, and the affection which he first created for
the royal house has descended to our own times. This
mastery over the minds and affections of soldiers is a
quality which, almost of necessity, carries success with it,
for it can never be possessed by a weak or foolish man.
No campaigns will be won by an army unless it has con-
fidence in itself and its commander. Frederick possessed
in a large degree the power of inspiring that confidence.

The most remarkable feature in our knowledge of this great
king, and perhaps that which most causes men to misunder-
stand him, is the astounding candour with which he lays
open his own character for inspection. In his writings we
read the whole man with his faults and his virtues clearly
exposed to view. Nothing is so uncommon, and this is
why the character of Frederick will perhaps never be fully
understood.

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